


Naruto's Raven

by kazenezumi123, Whatsinthebasement



Category: Naruto
Genre: Bickering, Coworkers - Freeform, From hate to love, Hair Pulling, M/M, Sass, drunk sasuke, manga department, mild violence, ramen night, sasuke's a butt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-04 08:17:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 46,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4130830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kazenezumi123/pseuds/kazenezumi123, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whatsinthebasement/pseuds/Whatsinthebasement
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Naruto dreams of becoming the next Hokage,  one of the most legendary writers of his village. As an editor, he has a long way to go; from dealing with procrastinating writers, to his friends, and of course with the longtime love of his life Sakura. Not that she wants him like that, but Naruto isn’t likely to give up anytime soon. But when a new, genius editor named Sasuke transfers into Konoha Publishing, Naruto may be way out of his depth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Making the Deadline

Naruto felt his scowl deepen as he read through his email messages. The longer he read, the deeper into a pit he sank, and the more weight came to push him underneath the surface.

As a star editor of Konoha Publishing, Naruto had a lot on his plate and his clients certainly weren’t helping him out to the best of their ability. In fact, they were the ones who threw him under the bus in the first place.

The deadline for one of his works was at the end of next week and the author was nowhere near done with the chapter. She’d sent an email practically begging for help rather than offering a possible solution to their problem. Naruto knew he couldn’t bribe the publishers into waiting another few days, he’d pulled that card too many times before and the trick was wearing thin. The author just wasn’t coming through anymore. Excuses piled on top of excuses and Naruto didn’t know whether she was simply over her head or really shabby at making deadlines.

He couldn’t blame her too much though. The two had a few things in common: they ran late most of the time, their appetites were pretty dynamic, and they were both unreasonably determined. No matter how late the chapters came, the author never failed to get them in. Naruto also found the author to be a very respectable woman.

He had learned his lesson from his rookie days and no longer messed around with his clients, but he would still eat lunch with her occasionally simply to bond over their personal lives outside of the workplace.

However, this particular author was dragging him through the wringer. All of his other authors had come through this month, except for her, and Naruto didn’t have time to put up with her problem; he doubted he’d have time for anything at all, ever again.

“Naruto, earth to Naruto.”

Naruto glanced up from his keyboard to see his boss Kakashi standing beside his desk.

“Oh, hey boss what’s up?”

Kakashi adjusted the allergy mask he always wore and chuckled back at him, the sound slightly muffled. “Sometimes I think your face is going to be permanently set into a scowl…it doesn’t suit you.”

Naruto couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled out of his chest. He tried to smooth down the creases in his forehead with his hand. “Yeah I’m pretty sure that I’m prematurely aging over here.”

“Author giving you grief?”

“Yeah…”

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and scratched the back of his head.

“Well I hate to add more to your plate…but I don’t have much of a choice. I need you to take another author.”

Naruto widened his eyes in horror. “Who?!”

“His name is Sai. He wrote Teacher Student Warfare, Waiting in July, Night Stalker, and a few others.”

“Aren’t those…crazy erotic mangas?”

Kakashi coughed into his fist and cast a quick look around the room.

“Yeah but I couldn’t assign him to anyone else. Kiba’s struggling with his four, Lee is nearly having a breakdown when he insists that he can handle more, Sakura is barely hanging on, and the others…well the others…”

“Yeah I get it.” Naruto turned his attention back to the computer and began to adjust his calendar. “I got you covered Kakashi.”

“You’re a lifesaver.”

“How’s Make Out Paradise coming along?”

Naruto couldn’t ignore the high pitch of excitement that touched his boss’s voice when he responded in a rush, “The fourth book is making its last rounds through publishing and Jiraiya’s already laying down the plot line for the next book, in fact I sat down with him a couple of days ago to help him brainstorm ideas and from what I heard it’s going to be yet another best seller that’s going to skyrocket his career and bring this company back into the spotlight-”

After a while, Naruto began to tune him out, nodding occasionally to make Kakashi think that he was still listening as he began to stress about his schedule all over again.

There was nothing Naruto hated more than the First Meeting. When he had to introduce himself to the author and start anew, when feelings were still awkward and hesitant as they became acquainted. It was the meetings afterward that Naruto loved; trying to bond with his new client and learning their style of writing or drawing was always an experience that he enjoyed as an editor.  But now he had to meet Sai, and from the rumors he’d heard, Sai was kind of weird. Hella weird. And to add on top of that, Naruto had never handled erotic novels before, let along mangas. He didn’t know if things would get awkward or if he would manage to do a good job.

Naruto wasn’t a genius. It was his hard work that brought him to the attention of the public and the head of their department. However, Naruto was only twenty four and very young in the eyes of the majority of the people working in the building, which also meant that he had limited experience. This was his chance to broaden his horizons and see how he would do in this line of work, but erotic novels didn’t exactly sound like his cup of tea.

__________________________________

 

“Stop dodging the bullet and meet up with the guy already!” Kiba slammed his beer down on the counter with enough force for it to slosh up and down the sides of the can. “You’re gonna be spending a lot of time with him in the future, might as well get used to him now.”

“But he’s creepy.” Naruto whined. He couldn’t stop turning his drink in his hands long enough to take a sip of it.

“I have to agree with Kiba on this one.” Choji shrugged as he plowed through another order of fries. “You’re just playing chicken Naruto.”

Naruto rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and focused his glare on the hanging lights. Had his friends dragged him to the bar simply for the sake of teasing him? “I don’t run away.”

“And I never go back on my word.” Kiba mocked him with a sneer. “Yeah Naruto, we know. So grow a pair and schedule the meeting.”

Naruto groaned. He knew his friends were right. It was only a matter of time before he had to meet Sai anyway. He needed to do it now while he had the time.

“Geez, Kakashi’s working us like horses isn’t he? I mean, Saturday feels like the only day I have to relax anymore and even that’s starting to seem like a temporary luxury.” Kiba sighed and dropped his chin into his hand. “I bet my dog thinks I’m neglecting him…”

“I think it’s a good way to keep us going!” Lee nodded fiercely from his spot along the counter and took a large gulp of water. “We need to be pushed to reach our full potential!”

“Says the man running on an hour of sleep.” Neji muttered over his drink. He watched the others with a subdued expression, his words lacking a bite from his own sleep deprivation.

“See, even Neji can’t manage to keep his high quality of sass! He’s just as useless to the group as Choji!” Kiba groaned.

“Hey.” Choji interjected. “I’m the one who eats the snacks, I’m useful.”

Naruto dropped his head into his arms. His friends were just as stupid as he was.

“Hey, you know what I heard? There’s someone transferring to our company named Sasuke Uchiha.” Kiba lowered his voice to a hushed whisper. “He’s coming to our department as a new editor and I hear he’s the real deal.”

Naruto’s head snapped up in annoyance.

“Hah? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Uchiha?” Lee asked slowly, as if he were mistaken. “As in Uchiha Enterprises Uchiha?”

“Yeah I hear it’s the president’s younger son. The one who couldn’t take over the company.” Kiba scratched at his growing beard and wiggled his eyebrows at Naruto. “Looks like you got competition.”

“Bullshit.” Naruto chugged the remains of his beer and scooted away from the counter. “I gotta go.”

“Call up creepy guy!” Kiba called after him as he stormed out of the bar. “Tell him I’m a huge fan of his work!”

Naruto ignored him; a surge of annoyance flooded his thoughts. An Uchiha coming to their publishing company? He always believed that Uchihas thought of themselves as too high and mighty to bother with them, let alone the President’s son. Something wasn’t adding up, and why didn’t Kakashi tell him anything? Like hell he’d spend the rest of his career putting up with this guy, there wouldn’t even be a competition. Naruto was the best editor in Konoha and he would make sure this Uchiha knew his place.

Naruto stormed his way home, grumbling to himself about how much his life had come to suck, and found himself faced with harsh reality.

“You’re late again.” Sakura huffed from her book. “Late equals no dinner.”

“Sakura, give me a break!”

She quirked a pink eyebrow at him; her face held no trace of a smile.

“Make your own or eat leftovers.”

Naruto groaned and dragged himself to the couch to drop onto it like a dead body. He didn’t have the energy to cook, let alone walk to the fridge and eat; he could easily go to sleep right here and now. He watched his roommate through one of his eyes; she swiftly turned through the pages of her book with a pensive expression.

“How’s studying goin’?” he finally asked her.

Sakura looked up from her book and focused her sharp green eyes on Naruto.

“It’s okay. I feel like I’m falling behind since work’s being so demanding.”

Naruto nodded in agreement. Work was certainly taxing, but for Sakura to be handling work and studying to be a doctor, he had to give her credit for her diligence. She was only working as an editor to pay her way through medical school; hopefully she’d be able to put up with all the stress that came from both.

“You’re amazing Sakura.” Naruto told her with a yawn as he splayed out on the couch. “I could never do what you do.”

“Thanks.” Sakura hummed from her spot, before quickly adding, “And no I won’t go out with you.”

Naruto bit the inside of his cheek before the words could tumble out for the millionth time. He didn’t know why Sakura was playing so hard to get, all he wanted was a date, nothing else. He couldn’t help the fact that he was madly in love with her; her tough exterior and quick wits always kept him on his toes both at home and at work. He just wished that she held a fraction of the affection he felt for her towards him.

“I’m a perfect dating candidate. I’m nice, I’m funny, I have pretty eyes…”

“Is that what the women at the bars tell you?” Sakura laughed from her seat. Naruto frowned. “Do they tell you that your hair is starting to resemble an old crazy blonde mop?”

“Sakuraaaaa….”

“Oh shut up.” Sakura closed her book with a loud snap and Naruto heard her footsteps fade away down the hall. “I’m going to bed.”

“Night!” Naruto called after her. The only response he got was the slamming of her door. _Love you too._

 

 

When Sunday rolled around, Naruto found himself pouting in one of his favorite cafés. He had finally gotten around to calling up Sai and setting up a meeting, but as authors usually tended to be, Sai was late. Naruto sat alone at one of the corner tables, watching his mocha latte steam as he waited for the inevitable. The restaurant was relatively empty, so he figured it wouldn’t be hard to pick him out of the crowd of customers.

Soon enough, a young man stepped into the shop, his dark eyes darting around the room until they landed on Naruto. He slowly made his way over to him and dropped into the seat across.

_No handshake?_

“Hello, I’m assuming you’re Naruto Uzumaki, my new editor?” his voice was unbelievably soft, making his presence a lot weaker than Naruto expected. To add to that, the guy was unbelievably pale; he was as white as a ghost and it didn’t help that the rest of his features were dark. His dark hair and eyes stood out in contrast more than his awful haircut.

“Uh, yeah that’s me.” Naruto shifted in his seat to sit up a little straighter. “I’m guessing you’re Sai then?”

“Yes.” Sai’s eyes raked over Naruto’s appearance. “You’re a lot younger than I expected you to be. Are you still in high school?”

“No, I’m twenty-four.”

“Oh, well you dress like you’re still in high school.” Sai shrugged and pulled out a notepad to start scribbling something down.

Naruto chewed on his lip to stop himself from saying something negative. So Sai was the blunt type of guy who didn’t care what came out of his mouth…this should be interesting.

“What are you writing?”

“Notes.” Sai responded. “I’m thinking about creating a character based off of you. A blonde haired and blue eyed boy who is actually in his twenties but dresses like a horny teenager.”

“I’m wearing a flannel and jeans!”

Sai glanced up from his notepad and smirked. “Exactly.”

Naruto took a huge gulp from his latte, focusing on the burn in the back of his throat rather than the string of swears that was about to tumble out of his mouth.

“So you write under the erotic category huh?”

“Yes, it’s on my resume.”

“You don’t seem like the type.” Naruto decided to test the waters a little, expecting him to get offended.

“People tell me that.” Sai didn’t look up from his notepad. “The question is, are you experienced enough to properly edit my work?”

Naruto coughed when his coffee went down the wrong way. “Excuse me?”

“You grow your hair out, you dress like a horny teenager, you order lattes, don’t tell me you’re a virgin too.” Sai sighed and set down his notepad to give Naruto a judging stare.

“W-what does ordering lattes have to do with anything?”

“Are you a virgin?”

“N-no, but that’s none of your business!”

“Good.” Sai picked up his notepad again and scribbled in it, muttering the words under his breath. “Not a virgin. Possibly a prostitute.”

Naruto dropped his head into his hands with a heavy groan. He couldn’t handle this guy, no way, no way.

“Have you read any of my works?” Sai asked him.

Naruto forced himself back into a sitting position and pushed his bangs back.

“I’ve read a couple.”

“And what did you think?”

“They’re very…” Naruto dropped his gaze to the hard wood table. “Very detailed.”

“I try.” Sai mused. He finally put his notepad away and zipped up his bag. “Well, this was a pleasant meeting, it could have gone better but I’m satisfied with you.”

Naruto could feel the beginning pinpricks of anger. “Oh? Leaving already?”

 _Wait, he’s satisfied with me? Who the hell is this guy?!  
_ “I have other business to attend to. Nice meeting you Naruto, I look forward to working with you in the future.” And with that, Sai turned on his heels and walked out of the café without looking back.

Naruto stared after him in open-mouthed shock. He was glad that it was over, but geez was that guy a lot to handle. His way of speaking felt almost robotic; the way he’d hand out an insult as easily as offering a compliment was almost too perfect. The guy was weird and Naruto had been right to be iffy about the whole meeting in the first place.

“What the hell am I going to do?” Naruto whined into the last half of his latte, wishing it could somehow offer him an answer.

_________________________________________

 

Naruto spent the next week worrying.

Every day brought him closer and closer to Friday, and the author was still not ready. Naruto was pulling out his hair, fluttering around the office in distress, and running on less the three hours of sleep for the week. By the time Friday rolled around, with the hard copy of the chapter due at two p.m. sharp, Naruto knew it was his death sentence.

But at one twenty, he received a call to meet the author at the library in town to pick up the finished chapter.

“Are you serious? You’re sure it’s done?!” Naruto cried into the receiver, grabbing his bag as he hung up the phone. He spared no time in rushing out of the office, taking the stairs two at a time instead of the elevator, and rushed four blocks to the public library.

He found his problematic red-headed author in less than thirty seconds, sitting in the lobby with a manila envelope on her lap.

            “Karin I’m going to kill you!” he hissed as she handed the envelope to him.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry alright?!” Karin adjusted her glasses and put on a scowl. “I got a cold and then really bad writer’s block and then‒”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to hear it! We’ll plan a day to catch up I have to get this in!” Naruto waved goodbye and sprinted back out the library doors and down the street. He dodged people on the street, offering a tired “Sorry” or “Excuse me ladies!” as he pushed through crowds trying to get back to his office on time.

He stumbled into the lobby at one fifty, out of breath and sweaty, and tried to calculate whether it was faster to take the elevator to the seventh floor or the stairs. Naruto decided on the latter and began his ascent up, ignoring the pain flaring in his chest as he pushed his way to the right floor. He threw open the door and raced through the offices, heading straight to the person in charge.

“Neji!” Naruto cried, waving the envelope in the air.

Neji turned to see him coming, his gray eyes widened in horror as he processed what was happening.

“Printing room!” he shouted in response and started running towards the back of the room. Other employees flattened themselves against the wall to allow Naruto and Neji to race by, all of them used to their crazy antics.

Neji snatched the envelope from Naruto’s hand and began his work, copying every page for print.

“You better hope she kept your edits!” Neji growled as he collected the final product and slipped it back into the envelope. “Otherwise we’re both screwed!”

Naruto only had the strength to offer him a salute and took the envelope back. All he had to do was race back down to the sixth floor and hand Kakashi the final print. He could do it, he only had…Naruto checked his watch and felt his heart sink. He had a minute.

Naruto barreled out of the office and thundered down the stairs back to his own floor, praying he wouldn’t trip and fall. He nearly jumped over desks and chairs to reach his section of the floor and stumbled through the archway just as Kakashi was beginning to offer his apologies to his second-in-command Obito, who was also the one in charge of bringing in the final copies.

“Naruto?” Kakashi shot out of his chair, his eyes gleaming. “Is that‒?”

Naruto held the envelope up in triumph. He handed it over to Obito as he struggled to catch his breath.

“Nice work Naruto.” Obito smiled and gave Kakashi a curt nod. “I’ll make sure this gets in.”

Once Obito left the office, Naruto collapsed into his chair in exhaustion. He considered himself a pretty fit guy, but today had a little too much cardio for his liking. He was sweating through his jacket and shirt; looking more like a soaked puppy than a professional.

“You always manage to pull through Naruto.” Kakashi dropped a hand onto Naruto’s shoulder and patted affectionately. “Like I said before, you’re a life-saver.”

“I try.” Naruto wheezed with a small smile.

“Well now you can relax.” Kakashi moved to the front of the office and flipped the large banner they hung on the wall to “END”. “This marks the end of the cycle and you all can rest. We have three free days next week before the cycle begins again.”

The room offered a low chorus of “yays”. Lee had his head on his desk, Kiba had taken a break on the floor, and Sakura had tapped out on the office couch. The room looked more like a crime scene than an office.

He was done. For the next five days, Naruto was free of stress and worry, which was everything he needed at time like this. Well, maybe a shower. A shower would do him some good right now.

“You’re all free to leave, catch up on that sleep.” Kakashi returned to his desk to grab his bag. Of course he would be the first to leave, if Kakashi was famous of anything, it was being late and leaving early.

Naruto listened to Kakashi’s command and stumbled home with Sakura. She went straight to her bed while Naruto dragged himself into the shower, nearly falling asleep in the warm spray of water before he could even make it to his bed. But once he did hit his bed, the soft mattress underneath him felt like heaven.

He burrowed himself beneath the blankets and slept peacefully, until he was shaken awake by Sakura.

“Leave me alone.” Naruto moaned into his pillow, but Sakura’s shaking intensified.

“Get up you’ve slept long enough.” Naruto could feel the bed dip where Sakura had taken a seat. “Kiba wants to go out tonight to celebrate at Yamato’s.”

“Go without me.”

“I will hit you.”

Naruto abruptly sat up and the blankets fell away to leave him exposed to the cool air coming through the windows. He blinked in the dark at Sakura’s expression and scratched at his bed head.

“Now hurry up.” Sakura commanded and stood up, leaving Naruto in the dark. He didn’t bother turning on the light to get dressed; he was too tired to care what he was putting on.

When he stepped out of his room he examined himself in the hallway mirror. He had gotten lucky this time and managed to put on something nice. He wore his black button-up and dark jeans; it was definitely better than the time he wore his bright orange blazer‒Sakura had never forgiven him for that day.

“Brush your hair!” Sakura snapped at him as she examined her make-up in her mirror.

Naruto obeyed, combing through the knots and curls that had taken place in his hair while he slept. Once it finally began to look like it usually did, Sakura grabbed him by the arm.

“Shall we?” she smiled up at him. Naruto smiled back and the two made their way out of the apartment together.

The walk to the club wasn’t far, only two blocks away from their apartment, but it could feel unbelievably long after a night of drinking. Sakura and Naruto would hit up Yamato’s frequently after the work cycle to celebrate their survival of yet another month.

Kiba stood waiting outside the door and waved as the two approached him.

“Don’t you two look like the cutest couple?” he teased.

“He wishes.” Sakura laughed.

“I do.” Naruto admitted.

They all walked into the club laughing. The loud music quickly swallowed their voices and replaced with a heavy bass that throbbed through Naruto’s body as they made their way to a booth. The flashing lights lit up the club in green and red, illuminating the people inside with eerie colors as they mingled around the bar or danced on the dance floor.

“Let’s start off with a round of shots.” Kiba slid out of the booth. “I’ll be back.”

Kiba quickly returned with a platter of shot glasses. He set them on the table and dropped back into his seat beside Naruto with a hungry expression. They all picked up their glasses and held them up.

“To finishing the cycle!” Sakura had to yell the toast for them to hear, and they all cheered as they knocked their shot glasses together.

Naruto took the shot with a quick tilt of his neck, relishing in the warm burn it left in his stomach. They proceed to finish their three shots each, giggling at each other’s disgusted faces as they did so.

Just as Naruto and Kiba finished their last shot, the doors to the club opened and a group of girls squealed.

“Oh my god.” One of them said to her friend. “It’s Sasuke Uchiha!”

“Sasuke…?” Kiba mouthed, a wicked smile starting to show on his face. Naruto craned his neck to see the dark haired boy stride in ( _not walk‒he fucking strides!_ ) alongside a tall boy with white hair. They ordered their drinks first before walking over to an empty booth, not far from where Naruto, Kiba, and Sakura sat.

“So that’s the bastard huh?” Kiba sat back in his seat and let out a faint whistle. “I can see why he’s popular.”

Naruto kept his gaze on Sasuke. He wanted to know what was so great about this guy; he was tall, Naruto could admit that he was handsome, but that was about it.

Sasuke stood up from his booth and shrugged out of his jacket; still talking to the boy he was with. He must have felt Naruto’s gaze on him, since he slowly looked over in Naruto’s direction and the two made eye contact.

Naruto felt as if he were looking into two black pools; churning with some intense emotion that he couldn’t place. Sasuke’s face quirked up in a smirk before he broke eye contact and slid back into his booth.

“I don’t like him.” Naruto declared to no one in particular.

“I’m gonna go get us some more drinks.” Sakura smiled and left the booth with a skip. Kiba and Naruto watched her walk past the bar and straight over to Sasuke’s booth.

“That traitor!” Kiba hissed.

Naruto watched her slide into the spot next to Sasuke. Even though the room was dark, Naruto could see how red Sakura’s cheeks were as she spoke to him. Sasuke made room for her and whispered into her ear with a sickeningly sweet smile that made Naruto shake.

Of all people for Sakura to be interested in‒

“Hey.” Kiba put a hand on Naruto’s shoulder. “Let’s get outta here, the guy’s an eyesore.”

It took a bit of tugging and pulling to get Naruto out of his seat, but eventually the two were outside and walking towards a new destination.

“I’ll treat you to ramen big guy, so cheer up.” Kiba pointed out Naruto’s favorite restaurant Ichiraku with a wide smile. “You can get anything you want.”

“Thanks Kiba.” Naruto let himself be dragged into the small restaurant and took a seat next to Kiba. The scent of cooking noodles and sizzling vegetables dulled the tension building in him and brought a small smile on his face.

“Ah, nice to see you two!” The owner Teuchi smiled at them after he came from the back. He took in Naruto’s sad expression and Kiba’s wary one. “I know exactly what you need.”

“Thanks.” Kiba called after him.

Once their ramen was set in front of them, Naruto tried to drown his sorrows in his favorite broth.

“Look, it sucks that Sakura’s interested in him, but that doesn’t mean anything!”

“He stole her heart just like that.” Naruto mumbled around his noodles. “He didn’t even say a word to her.”

“But he’s like that with everyone! I bet once she learns what kind of a person he is she’ll be disgusted.”

“Nn.” Naruto didn’t believe that. If it were true, there would be bad rumors about him circling around the village and that was the last thing an Uchiha would want.

“There are other things you have to do anyway; you don’t have time for girls.” Kiba laughed, but it quickly died. “What about being the next Hokage?”

Naruto slurped his mouthful and set his chopsticks down. Kiba had a point. It had always been Naruto’s dream to be the next Hokage, who were some of the most famous writers in their village in history. Their books were outstanding, their messages unbelievably inspirational, and their stories were the most captivating tales Naruto had ever read. He figured his dream stemmed from the fact that his father was the fourth Hokage, and he had always looked up to him for that.

“You always said that you were going to be the next Hokage, a better writer than your dad and the best writer in the village. Did you forget about that?”

“I’ll never be as cool as my dad.” Naruto let out a bitter laugh. “Let alone write better than him.”

Naruto knew his words were out of character, but he felt like they were the truth. He needed to accept reality for what it was now.

“It was all just a stupid ambition I had as a kid. I wanted to be better than everyone at everything. I wanted to be _somebody_.” Naruto picked up his chopsticks again to poke at his noodles. “But in reality I’m probably going to be an editor for the rest of my life, and I’m okay with that.”

Kiba stared at Naruto, mouth agape in shock. His bowl was forgotten, and the broth steamed in front of him.

“You’re…kidding right?” Kiba tried to laugh it off, but when he saw Naruto’s serious expression he stopped. “I think it’s just the booze getting to your head‒”

“I’m trying to be realistic Kiba.”

“But it’s your dream Naruto!”

“It _was_ my dream.” Naruto snapped. “Not anymore.”

Kiba dropped his gaze to his bowl, but didn’t make a move to eat its contents.

“Don’t get me wrong, I won’t let Sasuke walk into our office and outdo me.” Naruto tried to give Kiba a small smile but he knew it looked fake, “I’m not giving up on being an editor because I love my job.”

“Yeah…” Kiba finally picked up his chopsticks and scooped up his noodles with a sad slurp.

They ate in silence for the remainder of the night. Kiba didn’t offer any jokes, which Naruto appreciated. He didn’t want him to feel as though the jokes were flat; Naruto just wasn’t in the mood to laugh tonight.

They said their goodbyes after they finished their meals and went their separate ways. Kiba shuffled off with his hands deep in his pockets and Naruto walked off without Sakura. She would simply have to find her own way home, drunk or not. Maybe Sasuke would be enough of a gentleman to walk her home.

Naruto thought work Monday would be relaxing, considering the cycle didn’t begin until Thursday, but he knew that was when Sasuke would come in.

Naruto blew out a heavy breath as he turned onto his street. He was ready to handle Sasuke. If he was ready to handle Sai, he was ready to handle yet another asshole in his life. As long as he could keep the growing bubble of hatred in his stomach down and out of sight, he would be okay. Sasuke wasn’t going to get under his skin.

Or so he thought.


	2. Rivals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto tries to keep his problem with Sasuke to himself, but whenever Sasuke is around he can’t seem to help losing control. But will unexpected circumstances bring them closer together?

On Monday morning Naruto spent his time punching angrily at his keyboard and pretending not to glance at the clock every thirty seconds for Sasuke’s arrival. He had a mental countdown going on for the seconds until his “peaceful” work environment reached its demise and his own personal hell begun. The anticipation was torturing him and that pissed him off more than anything else. He didn’t want to be thinking about Sasuke before he even showed up; the guy didn’t deserve any of Naruto’s time.

Naruto’s anticipation ended when Obito stepped into their office with a familiar man in tow. It was around eleven o’clock and Naruto had been considering whether the arrival was worth skipping his lunch break for, when Sasuke finally stepped into the office.

His expensive sweater made him look like the definition of a privileged Uchiha, but that wasn’t what went straight to Naruto’s nerves. It was the condescending look he held as he examined the room.

“Guys I’d like to introduce your new coworker. He will be with us from this day forward as an editor and I hope you’ll welcome him with open arms.” Obito turned to mutter to Sasuke, “You want to say the rest?”

Sasuke shrugged and took a small step forward.

“I’m Sasuke Uchiha and I have only one goal. I’m going to be this village’s best editor before climbing to the top and becoming the village’s best author.”

Naruto could _hear_ the entire room turn to look at him.

The words hit home; it was nearly the same speech Naruto had given on his first day. He may not have said it with such a cocky attitude, but the resemblance was enough to piss Naruto off. _Is this guy fucking serious?_

“Well I’m glad the people in this office have high ambitions.” Kakashi stood up from his desk and crossed the small distance to shake Sasuke’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you and welcome to Konoha Publishing.” Naruto noticed the small glance Kakashi gave him before he gestured for Sasuke to follow him.

Sasuke passed Naruto’s desk slowly; his eyes focused on Naruto with the same smirk he’d had Friday night. It was as if he could sense the anger radiating off of Naruto when he walked by, judging from the satisfied grin his smirk morphed into.

_You cannot fight this man in your office Naruto._

Naruto made a pledge to himself. Sasuke would not get the best of him. Sasuke would not make him lose his cool. And Sasuke would not get any of Naruto’s attention unless it was absolutely necessary for work.

And he lived by those words successfully for about two weeks.

He learned very few things about the dark haired boy over that time. He noticed that Sasuke only spoke when he found it absolutely impossible not to or when he was talking to the higher ups. If he could get away without speaking, his affirmative was a simple “hn” and the others accepted it as if it were normal. Whenever Lee and Sakura invited him out to join them for lunch (Kiba and Naruto would pretend like they didn’t hear them), Sasuke would always turn them down saying he had work to do.

Naruto tried not to voice his opinions out loud around Kakashi.

However, the only thing keeping him from shouting at Sasuke was the fact that he was at work and he really needed this job. His loud mouth had gotten him in trouble in the past, but if Sasuke kept acting the way he was Naruto knew he was bound to snap.

So he pretended to ignore the bad behavior, the snarky comments, the sarcastic tone Sasuke always kept in his voice, and the way he seemed nonchalant about every possible thing in the office.

Naruto lost his cool by the end of the second week. One smart-ass comment was enough to force Naruto out of his seat and slam the Uchiha against the wall.

“Look.” He hissed at Sasuke. “I’ve kept my mouth shut for two weeks, but you are seriously getting on my nerves.”

Sasuke cocked his head, but didn’t bother to fight the force of Naruto’s weight pushing him against the wall.

“So you _are_ the guy from the bar.” Sasuke mused with a small grin. “It’s been bothering me for a while now.”

“Shut the hell up!” Naruto twisted his fist deeper into Sasuke’s shirt. “Your attitude sucks dude!”

Sasuke wasn’t listening to him. He was off in his own world; his eyes set on Naruto’s face with a somewhat bored look.

“I recognized you by the stupid look on your face.” He sighed. “At least you cut your hair, now you look like you actually have a job.”

Naruto could taste the metallic blood in his mouth from where he bit his tongue.

“You were also with that pink haired girl.” Sasuke was still talking, completely unfazed by the increasingly dangerous hold Naruto had on him. “God, she was so annoying. Tell her to leave me alone in the future? I’m not interested in her.”

“Do you want me to beat you to death in this office now, or wait until we get off?”

“Oh please.” Sasuke rolled his eyes. “I’m not scared of you.”

Naruto closed his eyes and exhaled, hoping to push all of the bad things he wanted to do to this guy out of his head before Kakashi came back from his lunch break. If only he could break just one leg…

“As I said before, your attitude sucks ass, you’re rude, and you don’t even look like you give a shit about this job! So brighten up Sunshine or else we’re all going to have a problem.”

Sasuke raised a dark brow. “Oh? You going to fire me if I don’t?”

Naruto was at a loss for words. He blinked at Sasuke in a brief moment of weakness, which Sasuke took to his advantage by twisting out of Naruto’s grip.

“You don’t have any authority here, from what I can see. If you can’t fire me I suggest you mind your own business.” Sasuke said before he turned to walk away, leaving Naruto alone in the office with his fury.

 

 

Naruto thought his threat would at least settle somewhere in Sasuke’s conscious, but unfortunately the next day rolled around and Sasuke, if at all possible, turned up the sass.

While he typed out an email begging Karin to get her chapter in early this month, Naruto heard Lee talking to Sasuke in a low voice.

“You know, you and Naruto seem to have a lot in common.”

For the first time, Naruto saw Sasuke stop his work to give one of his coworkers his full attention.

“Oh?” he inquired, turning in his seat to look at Lee. “How so?”

“Well, like you, Naruto wants to be the next Hokage because his father was one! He’s also the best editor I know, so he’s practically halfway there!”

Sasuke frowned, his thin fingers drumming idly against his desk.

“He wants to be the next Hokage?”

Lee nodded. “Yup! I admire his hard work and dedication a lot! I believe we could all learn from him‒”

“Hah!” Sasuke closed his eyes before opening them again, his gaze meeting Naruto’s instantly. “What a stupid dream.”

_Remember your pledge Naruto._

“It’s not a stupid dream!” Kiba growled from his desk. “Yours is no different!”

“It is different.” Sasuke went back to his computer without looking in Kiba’s direction. “I’m striving to be better than the Hokage. I’m also following a different path. I don’t try to make the impossible happen like an idiot.”

Kiba pushed out of his seat to stand. “Hey man‒”

“Kiba let him be.” Naruto told him with the wave of his hand. “He ain’t worth your time.”

“I’m not just going to let him badmouth you‒”

“Let him be.” Naruto glared back at Sasuke with every ounce of hatred he could muster. It only made Sasuke’s smirk widen.

 

It didn’t take long for Sasuke to become the President’s favorite. She would call him down regularly, put him in charge of meetings with Kakashi and Obito, and invite him out on her gambling (drinking) nights. Sasuke never refused her, playing pet to her every wish and command while he defied the effects of the Cycle; while the office wallowed in its own dark state of self-misery and sleep deprivation, Sasuke shined brighter than any star in the sky. Naruto became convinced that Sasuke wasn’t human. He was simply the devil in disguise, put in the building solely for the purpose of torturing him until he gave up on keeping his temper contained. Naruto knew he couldn’t afford to lose to the overwhelming urge he had to punch Sasuke in the face.

But boy, did he want to. Until he had his epiphany.

What contributed to Naruto’s epiphany was Karin’s phone call for a meeting. Naruto met her at their usual place, a little tea shop near the library in town, prepared for the general lay-down on how the chapter was either not done or nonexistent. He wasn’t prepared for what she had to say today.

“You want Sasuke to be your new editor?” Naruto screeched, drawing the attention of the entire shop.

Karin rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic. But, yes I want Sasuke to be the editor of my work from now on; don’t get offended.”

“I am offended! Why do you want him? I’ve been your editor for years!”

“A year.” Karin held up a finger. “And you’ve been a very good one Naruto.”

“I don’t understand why you’re doing this!”

“Because,” Karin pursed her lips, “Like I said no offense, but Sasuke is hot! And I’m not saying that you aren’t‒” she paused when she saw the tortured expression on Naruto’s face.

“You’re killing me Karin.”

“Hear me out! Sasuke and I used to have a thing okay?” Karin reached over to rustle through her bag. She set one of her works on the table and cracked it open to a page, her finger pressed against the face of the love interest. “Does he look familiar to you?”

Naruto tilted his head to get a better look, realization suddenly dawning on him.

“Don’t tell me…your mangas have been about Sasuke this entire time?!”

“Naruto, you are very stupid, another reason why I want to change editors.” Karin huffed and pulled her book from Naruto’s grasp. “I want Sasuke to read these, remember our old flame, and come back to me.”

Naruto wanted to gag.

“Well it’s been a pleasure stressing over your works, which happened to be about the guy I hate, I hope you get over your sick obsession before it kills you.”

“Oh grow up Naruto.” Karin pulled her bright red hair into a ponytail. “It’s not an obsession.”

With a sharp laugh, Naruto got out of his seat and walked out of the place without looking back. The world was going to shit and here he was, being pulled along for the worst of it.

He should be relieved. He didn’t have to put up with Karin’s bullshit anymore, ever again, in fact, Sasuke would!

The smile failed to stay on his face as he made his way down the streets of Konoha, a heavy question weighing on his mind.

What was so fucking great about Sasuke Uchiha?

Karin would rather have him as an editor, the President of his office building loved him, Sakura was head over heels in love with him and so was the whole freaking village. What did he have that Naruto didn’t? Money? The perfect upbringing?

Naruto stopped in his tracks.

Luckily, no one was behind him at the time; people simply walked around him as he stood in the middle of the sidewalk staring up at the sky with his mouth agape; stuck in his “ah-hah!” moment.

Maybe he was going about this entire situation the wrong way. Instead of ignoring Sasuke and letting him live his smug little life, Naruto could barge his way into it and make it a living hell. That way he could find out all he needed to know about Sasuke and enjoy himself at the same time, all while making Sasuke miserable.

“I’m a genius.” Naruto whispered.

__________________

 

The next day, Naruto set his plan in motion.

During his lunch break, he dropped into Lee’s empty desk, which was conveniently right next to Sasuke’s. Most of the office had dispersed for lunch, but Sasuke remained rooted to his seat, tapping away at his keyboard; Naruto dropped his elbow on the desk and cupped his chin in his hand. He sat like that until Sasuke slowly stopped typing and turned to glare at him in annoyance.

“What do you want loser?”

“How ya doin’?” Naruto asked in his sweetest voice.

Sasuke visibly cringed and narrowed his eyes.

“Just fine, now go away.”

“Tell me about yourself.”

Sasuke didn’t turn away from him; he kept his eyes on Naruto warily like he expected him to strike.

“No thanks.”

“When’s your birthday?”

“I was never born.”

“What’s your favorite color?”

“None of your business.”

“Do you have any friends?”

“Yes, but unlike some people, I don’t combine business with personal affairs.”

“Do you have any allergies?”

“Yeah, you. Can you leave before my throat swells up?”

Naruto leaned closer. He was actually having fun, watching Sasuke grow more and more uncomfortable under his stare.

“Boxers or briefs?”

“Now you’re moving on to sexual harassment?”

Naruto raised an eyebrow. If that was a challenge, he would take it.

“Were you a cute baby? I bet you were. Probably whiny too. And I doubt you’ve changed.” Naruto couldn’t hide the sneer that stretched its way across his face.

What fueled his fire even more was the pink tint that touched Sasuke’s cheeks.

He stood up so abruptly that Naruto started at the movement.

“I’m done with you.” Sasuke said simply before he strode out of the office and down the hall. Naruto watched him go, biting back his laughter until he couldn’t hold it anymore.

“Dude.” Kiba crawled out from underneath his desk, scaring the living daylights out of Naruto. “That was fucking awesome!”

“Were you hiding under your desk and eavesdropping?”

“I do it all the time.” Kiba waved his hand dismissively; his face set in a wolfish grin. “I hear a lot of shit this way‒and was that sarcastic flirting I heard Naruto Uzumaki?”

“That was the only way I knew how to make him uncomfortable.” Naruto shrugged. And boy did it work!

“Now we know the Uchiha shies away from any form of homoerotic displays of affection.”

“I don’t think homoerotic is the right word…”

“I’m gonna go try to kiss him.” Kiba jumped to his feet and rubbed his hands together excitedly. “Gonna get me a taste of that Uchiha.”

Naruto frowned.

“I can’t tell if you want to fight the guy or fuck him.”

Kiba shrugged. “Man, I don’t even know anymore.” With that, he walked out of the office; his voice ringing through the other office. “Yo where’d that Uchiha go?”

_Well that went surprisingly well._

Naruto let out a content sigh and leaned back in his chair. He wondered how long he’d have to keep this up before Sasuke cracked. A part of him hoped it would take a long time; this was by far one of the most entertaining things he’d ever done in his life. It was finally time to get Sasuke back.

__________

 

Sasuke played Naruto’s game for the rest of the week, offering his snide remarks to Naruto’s constant harassment, showing no signs of surrender. By the end of the week, Naruto reached the conclusion that he simply had to come up with cruder questions and push Sasuke just a little farther. The lack of reaction was starting to make the game boring, nothing else Naruto said made him as uncomfortable as it had before and Naruto wondered why.

When Naruto came home Friday evening he was shocked to see Sasuke sitting at the kitchen table. He chatted with Sakura while she hovered over a cooking pot on the stove; her giggling filling the apartment.

“What the fuck?” Naruto dropped his bag in the doorway and stormed up to the table to glare down at Sasuke. “Sakura, what the hell is _he_ doing here?”

“Um, language?” Sakura scowled at him; her spoon poised above the pot ready to be used as a weapon. “Sasuke is here for dinner, of course. Now be respectful or this spoon is going up your ass!”

Sasuke smirked.

“Oh that thought entertains you huh?” Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the collar and lifted him slightly out of the chair. “We need to talk.”

“Hn.” Sasuke hummed. He allowed Naruto to pull him into the hallway, still managing to look unfazed.

“What are you doing in my apartment with Sakura?” Naruto hissed at him, letting his hand drop to his side. There wasn’t a point using unnecessary violence on him, clearly it didn’t move the guy.

“Sakura just told you.”

“You hate Sakura.”

“Yeah, well.” Sasuke’s smirk was back. “It appears she can be helpful.”

Naruto furrowed his brows. “…What?”

“She has a lot of…convenient stories about you.” Sasuke mused before he stepped out of Naruto’s swiping range. “She likes to share some pretty embarrassing things, _Mr. Bedwetter_.”

Naruto’s jaw dropped in disbelief. He came over to hear his secrets from Sakura? Was this his form of revenge?

“You’re playing dirty Uchiha!”

“I just asked and she told me.”

“You’re using her!”

“So?” Sasuke made his way down the hall, looking at the pictures as he went. “I don’t care.”

“Get out of our apartment.”

“I’m pretty comfortable here.” Sasuke’s hand trailed along the frame of Naruto’s college diploma. “I’m actually surprised that you don’t live in your parent’s basement or something.”

Naruto kept his voice flat. “Both of my parents are dead.”

Sasuke froze for a brief second before he moved again. He glanced at Naruto over his shoulder to measure his expression.

“Well…mine are too.”

The words were brief, but they left Naruto speechless. That was the first personal piece of information Sasuke had ever revealed to him willingly. However, his sudden interest was quickly squashed.

“Your roommate is so easy to persuade, I’m almost tempted to take her away from you.” Sasuke studied another piece of artwork, his hand pressed against his chin with a thoughtful look on his face. “It would be too easy…”

That was what made Naruto snap. One second he was standing at the end of the hall in awe, the next he had Sasuke pinned against the wall in rage. It happened so fast even Sasuke seemed a little rattled when his head slammed into the plaster.

“Listen you little shit.” Naruto leaned so close their noses were touching, “you can talk about me all you want, but don’t you fucking dare bring Sakura into this!”

Sasuke didn’t respond. Their heavy breaths mingled amongst each other in their close proximity, Naruto could nearly taste him on his breath.

Before he knew it, Naruto became aware of their current position. He had Sasuke pinned in front of him; both arms acting as a cage on either side of his delicate face, and his leg between Sasuke’s thighs to keep him in place. With their chests pressed together, Naruto could feel every breath Sasuke took, and he could feel the growing heat between them. He didn’t know what he was waiting for. Did he want Sasuke to say something back? Was he waiting for Sasuke to hit him? If he wanted to kiss Sasuke he only had to tilt his head ever so slightly to the side…

Sasuke moved first. He pushed Naruto with enough force to send him flying back against the opposite wall of the hallway, causing a loud reverberating shake through the apartment.

Naruto heard Sakura call out his name in confusion, but he was focused on Sasuke. He wasn’t expecting that amount of strength to come out of him; Naruto was taller with a more athletic build while Sasuke was lean and agile, and it wasn’t easy to move Naruto like that. Sasuke stood with his head down, blocking his expression. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and gave Naruto a deadly look.

“Don’t you fucking touch me again.” He spat. Naruto shrunk away from the acidity in his words and swallowed his response.

“What the hell are you two doing?!” Sakura appeared at the end of the hallway, still brandishing the spoon. When Sasuke stormed past her without a word, she only spared a glance at Naruto before chasing after the dark haired boy. “Sasuke? Sasuke what’s wrong?!”

“I have to go.” His voice sounded like ice. Sakura didn’t respond, and when the door slammed shut Naruto knew he was in deep shit. He dropped his gaze to the floor, refusing to look up even when the angry footsteps approached him.

“Naruto what the hell have you done?” Sakura’s shouting made him flinch; verbal abuse had always been worse for him than physical abuse. He’d prefer it if she beat him with the hot spoon. “That was my only chance at having a real date with Sasuke! Everything was perfect and you ruined it! Why? Why do you have to ruin everything?!”

“He’s a bad guy Sakura.” Naruto hated how small his voice sounded. It always happened when he argued with her; he was so scared of her that it took the fighting spirit out of him. “He was just trying to use you‒”

“What the hell would you know? I can handle myself Naruto, stay out of my love life!”

Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. That was it. That was all he could muster.

Sakura stormed down the hallway and Naruto could hear the small sobs escaping from her throat as she went back into the kitchen. He was starting to feel the guilt, it washed over him in a self-pitying curtain of regret and he wanted nothing more than to run away from it. Sakura was right; her love life was none of his business, and she was responsible enough to make her own decisions. Hell, she was twice as smart as him, if not more; she could handle herself.

Naruto peeled himself off the wall and slipped out the back door. He took the stairs two at a time; he wanted to get as far away from that apartment as he could. He needed to clear his head; the image of Sasuke’s glare still burned in Naruto’s vision when he closed his eyes. It was a look of pure anger and…disgust. And Naruto knew the look of disgust better than anyone.

Naruto kept his pace brisk as he made his way into town. He dipped and dodged the other moving bodies rather than allowing them to push him along the current, no destination in mind; just away.

As Naruto pushed his way through the Konoha traffic, he suddenly noticed a familiar figure in front of him.

The tall, dark haired boy was moving through the thinning crowd in a similar manner to Naruto. His navy blue shirt stood out in the waves of bright colors the townspeople tended to wear, and his usually perfect black hair was windblown and tussled. Naruto kept his distance as he followed Sasuke through town, and suddenly noticed that they were heading into the less safe parts of Konoha.

_Where the hell is he going?_

Naruto hesitated at the light. He felt weird following him, but a part of him was worried. Sasuke was shaken, and if he was anything like Naruto, he wasn’t thinking clearly anymore. And these parts of Konoha could be brutal; Naruto highly doubted an Uchiha would understand that.

Naruto continued to follow Sasuke through the neighborhood; hands deep in his pockets as the wind whipped through his hair and left goosebumps on his bare arms.

There was no denying it. He was drawn to Sasuke. Naruto didn’t know if it was his mysterious aura or simply his asshole demeanor that kept him in Sasuke’s orbit, but there was something about him that intrigued him. Naruto couldn’t keep his eyes off the space between Sasuke’s shoulders when he walked, and he couldn’t help noticing the way his shirt fit snugly along his shoulder blades but flowed freely when it reached his torso. He couldn’t even ignore the way his pants made his butt look _really_ nice.

_Dear God Naruto what have you done._

“I’m falling for him.” Naruto whimpered under his breath. “Why am I falling for him?”

Sasuke’s walk ended abruptly when he was surrounded by a group of men standing at the mouth of an alley that separated the drug store and the gambling house. Naruto slowed his pace, but continued to advance down the street to see what was happening.

The four men circled Sasuke, eyeing him up and down, and Naruto heard one of them whistle at their target. Naruto watched Sasuke’s mouth move, unsure of what exactly was said, but he was able to assume roughly what the gist of it was. The remark landed Sasuke a punch to the jaw before two of the men dragged him down the alley without giving him a chance to recover and fight back. The other two slowly followed after them, glancing around to see if anyone was watching. Naruto pretended to be examining a store sign when they looked in his direction, but the moment they disappeared into the alley Naruto started running after them.

He knew it was stupid. But he only had one thing running through his mind.

_Sasuke’s in trouble. He’s in trouble!_

Naruto ran on pure instinct, whipping around the corner and nailing the first guy in the back of the neck with his elbow without a second thought. He crumpled to the ground with a yelp and stayed there.

Sasuke had already taken down the other two; they were against the wall, out cold, but the last guy had his grip on Sasuke, pinning him to the cold pavement with a knife pointed at his ivory throat. Naruto could only take in the view in fragments: Sasuke’s shirt pushed up, his pants unzipped, the man breathing heavily into Sasuke’s face, Sasuke’s eyes locking on Naruto’s in what could only be seen as _defeat_.

Naruto put everything into the kick he landed in the man’s side.

He could feel the crunch of bone when his foot connected with ribs, he could feel his knuckles meeting bare flesh when he threw his punches, but he could no longer sense his self-control. Naruto knew exactly what he was doing; he held the attacker by the shirt and beat him mercilessly, putting every ounce of anger and frustration into his hits as he crouched over him in the dark. He didn’t know if it was anger that forced the tears down the sides of his face, or his earlier guilt, or his general sadness, but they were there; it was almost as if his body was frustrated by the fact that he couldn’t stop hitting this man, even when he had stopped fighting back.

Naruto threw his last punch and stopped, his fist inches away from their punching bag, when he remembered Sasuke. He turned his head in minute horror to see Sasuke watching Naruto with an equally terrified look on his face.

_Oh no. Oh shit, shit!_

Naruto slowly stood up. He made sure not to make any sudden movements as he stepped over the bodies on the ground and approached Sasuke; he felt like he was approaching a cornered animal.

“Hey…” Naruto held out his hand in an offer to help him up. Sasuke stared at Naruto’s hand, the blood smeared one was clenched behind his back, before hesitantly taking it. Naruto hauled Sasuke to his feet. While Sasuke zipped up his pants, Naruto dabbed at his bloody knuckles with his dirty T-shirt. He had to pretend not to look at Sasuke’s muscular torso as he tugged down his shirt.

“Why the hell are you here?” Sasuke’s voice came out in a tired whisper, rather than his usual sarcastic tone.

“I was on a walk and happened to see you.” Naruto murmured as he cradled his fist. He couldn’t find the heart to look Sasuke in the eyes; their earlier conflict was too fresh in his mind.

“No. I mean, why did you come to help me?” Sasuke demanded.

Naruto’s head snapped up, his eyes automatically meeting Sasuke’s. He could feel his blood run cold. “What?”

“If you saw me get ambushed, wouldn’t you be thinking ‘well that’s what he deserved’?”

Naruto stared at Sasuke in shock.

“Sasuke, what kind of a person do you think I am?”

Sasuke averted his gaze and narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know, but that’s what I would assume. I’ve been nothing but an ass to you‒”

“Sasuke!” Naruto gripped his shoulder with his good hand, ignoring the small wince of pain Sasuke made. Naruto tried to focus as much intensity into his eyes as he put into his words. “No one deserves something like this! No matter what they did!”

Sasuke dragged his eyes back to Naruto’s. He didn’t say anything else, but just stood with his arms crossed in front of him like a potential shield, still rigid from the trauma. Naruto could never imagine seeing Sasuke so shaken up; the hurt-puppy look didn’t match his character.

“I’ll tell you what you do deserve for being a jerk to me.” Naruto lightly pressed his good fist against Sasuke’s cheek in a joking manner. “You deserve a good punch to the nose to mess up that pretty face of yours.”

The words were out before Naruto could stop himself.

Sasuke’s eyes flew back to Naruto’s and widened. He quickly turned his head away, uttering a quiet “tch” under his breath, but Naruto could see the hint of a smile.

Naruto took his fist away to see that it was smeared with blood.

“Sasuke your face is bleeding!”

“I know.”

“Was it from the knife?”

“Yeah.” Sasuke said quietly. Naruto squinted to get a better look, but the sun had gone down and left them in darkness, making it nearly impossible to get a good look. He was so used to Sasuke’s sass now he half expected Sasuke to give him a smartass response like ‘what do you think?’

“I’ll walk you home and we’ll get it treated.”

“You don’t have to do that.” Sasuke stepped away from Naruto’s reach. “You’ve done enough Naruto.”

“Sasuke please, it’s dangerous around here and you aren’t in the best state of mind‒”

“Why do you care so much?!” Sasuke snapped, but the glare wasn’t there. It was replaced by a vulnerable and wary stare that pulled at Naruto’s heartstrings. He felt like he was seeing the depths of Sasuke’s soul, as cheesy as it sounded, and it didn’t look like this was the first time he’d been hurt.

“Can we talk about this later?! We need to get you home or else‒”

“No we can’t!”

Naruto took a deep breath and blew it out in a frustrated groan. “Because we’re rivals, that’s why.”

The look on Sasuke’s face reminded Naruto of himself whenever he was in math class. That dumbfounded, confused and lost expression was a perfect copy of himself. For once, Sasuke was at a loss for words, he stared at Naruto as if he were insane; he’d probably expected the pavement to catch fire before hearing those words.

“Now let’s go. Where do you live?” Naruto lightly pulled Sasuke out of the alley by his arm and led the way down the street, staying close to the streetlights as they walked. It took a few light shakes to get the answer out of Sasuke’s mouth and nearly an hour to get him home. Naruto was more concerned about them getting arrested; walking through the streets at night in bloodstained clothing and bruises would not be easy to explain.

Sasuke dragged him into the apartment complex insisting on at least treating Naruto’s wound first; in Sasuke’s exact words, the wound was “fucking disgusting and about to sprout wings”. Naruto sat perched on the toilet, letting Sasuke’s soft hands glide over his wound, barely listening to Sasuke’s instructions on treatment and his recommendations that he go to a hospital.

“I heal fast, it’ll be fine.” Naruto told him.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but stayed compliant and allowed Naruto to treat his wounds before Naruto left. He could tell Sasuke was iffy about allowing him to walk home at night, but with a borrowed shirt and a bandaged hand, Naruto felt a little less suspicious walking the two blocks home.

As he made his way across the street on his way home, Naruto risked a glance over his shoulder. Sasuke stood in the archway of his building, leaning against the frame as he watched Naruto cross the street, his face fixed in a scowl.

Naruto felt his chest fill with warmth and gave Sasuke the heartiest wave he could manage with his bandaged hand. It may have been because he was so far away, but Naruto could swear he saw Sasuke smile.

And it made his heart ache.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay chapter 2 is up! Chapter 3 is already written, I just need to edit it. So who knows when that’ll come out, especially given that midterms and papers are coming up. But I promise it’ll be up this month! Sometime in the next two weeks probably….Anyway hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	3. Brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto gets to meet someone close to Sasuke, and realizes the more he learns about him, the harder he falls.

Naruto spent his days trying not to stare at Sasuke.

He glared at his computer screen until he got headaches, wrote down notes to distract himself, and tried to fully engage himself with his authors. Sai was already on a fast-moving track with one of his novels, which wasn’t much of a surprise to Naruto, but the guy seemed to work independently. He’d rarely call Naruto for anything aside from increasingly personal questions that appeared out of the blue like: ‘When you look down in the shower, are you proud of what you see?’ Naruto didn’t know what to make of it so he played along, but he appeared to have more free time than he’d ever had in a long time.

Friday was another one of those dull empty days. Naruto shifted through his finished work pile, counting down the minutes until he got to leave early, when the phone on Sasuke’s desk rang.

Naruto froze, his eyes stopping on the empty desk in curiosity. Sasuke had run out less than a few minutes ago, simply stating that he had errands to take care of. It was normal for Sasuke to keep busy and occasionally do errands, so Naruto tried his best not to delve on it too much, but then again, when was his attention not on Sasuke?

Naruto picked up the phone and lightly cradled the receiver between his cheek and shoulder.

“Konoha Publishing, what can I do for you today?”

A soft, deep voice came from the other end.

“ _Is Sasuke Uchiha around by any chance?”_

“You just missed him. I can relay a message to him if you’d like.”

“ _Ah, no that’s fine. I was just hoping to catch him before he left_.”

“May I ask who this is?”

The person on the other end chuckled. “ _Yes, excuse me. I’m his brother Itachi_.”

Naruto felt his jaw drop. Itachi Uchiha? As in the President of Uchiha Enterprises?!

“No way!”

“ _Yes way_.”

“I can’t believe I’m talking to the president of Uchiha Enterprises that’s crazy!!!” Naruto couldn’t stop himself from raising his voice; Kiba turned towards him with a shocked expression that quickly turned devious.

“ _Are you one of Sasuke’s coworkers_?”

“Yeah! You’re speaking to the one and only Naruto Uzumaki.”

“ _Naruto…_ ” Itachi mused. “ _Oh! I know who you are! Sasuke’s mentioned you before_!”

“He has…?” Naruto asked carefully. From what he could imagine, it wouldn’t be anything positive.

“ _Yes, I found it amusing because he never speaks about his coworkers, yet he had so much to say about you_.”

Naruto tried to squash down the inkling of hope that tried to wriggle its way into his stomach and frowned at Sasuke’s desk. As long as he’d been working around Sasuke, Naruto didn’t know anything about him. Sasuke was nearly impossible to read, and Naruto knew how to read other people better than anyone. Sasuke was a blank page‒more like a blank book considering the amount of history Naruto was lacking. He just wanted something; a foothold, a steady base, just a hint of who Sasuke really was.

“Hey, is it possible…for you to tell me a little about your brother? I mean, I work with him, but he never talks about himself, and I could use some help…”

“ _Like blackmail?_ ” Itachi broke into laughter on the other line. “ _Sure, how about you head over here and I’ll buzz you up to my office_.”

“Right now?”

“ _If you can_.”

Naruto glanced at the clock and his empty to-do pile.

“I’m on my way.”

 

“Don’t tell me you’re meeting the President of Uchiha Enterprises.” Kiba hissed as Naruto gathered his things. Naruto shrugged and swung his bag over his shoulder.

“I’m going to get dirt on Sasuke from the best possible person.”

“Ah siblings.” Kiba mused. “They’ll always betray you in the end.”

Naruto gave him a parting wave before he darted out of the office. He slipped into the elevator before the doors could close and settled himself in the corner for the ride down.

“Why do you look so happy?” Sakura glared at him over her pile of boxes. Naruto would offer to help her carry them, but he knew Sakura could handle carrying a car if she wanted to.

“Just got off early.” He replied. He didn’t know how much Sakura was still mad at him, but it was definitely getting better if she was speaking to him again. “Gonna head over to Ichiraku’s to celebrate.”

“By yourself?”

“I’m used to it.” Naruto grinned back, hoping she wouldn’t ask any more questions.

Sakura turned her head with a huff and stepped out of the elevator once it reached her floor. Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief once she was gone.

 

The walk to the Uchiha building was a lot farther than Naruto expected. He made his way through the twists and turns of the streets leading up to it, thankful they weren’t crowded yet with rush hour traffic. It was hard enough stumbling around young children and teenagers fresh out of school; traffic would have made it much worse.

He finally reached the building after a twenty minute walk and a slight detour for coffee. Naruto craned his neck to look up the massive establishment; it gleamed in the sunlight, the creamy beige bricks giving the building a modern look that made it stand out more than necessary. All of the buildings in Konoha were fairly old-fashioned and no more than five floors, and here this thing was—towering menacingly over the town as if it were the main attraction.

Naruto grumbled to himself as he walked through the glass sliding doors. He was hit with a blast of cold air conditioning and the scent of cologne in the main lobby. A woman sat at the front desk with her eyes trained on the computer with two men in suits stood on either side of her. When Naruto approached the desk, the woman didn’t bother to look up. Her dark eyes roamed across her computer screen and her fingers danced across her keyboard with lightning speed.

“Are you Naruto Uzumaki?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Mr. Uchiha will see you on the thirty-fifth floor. Inabi and Yashiro Uchiha will show you the way.”

The two bodyguards stepped forward in unison, their eyes falling on Naruto. They led the way to the elevator, walking in silence with Naruto less than two steps behind them. The ride up felt miserable; standing in silence between two hulking men that could easily snap Naruto in half was a little nerve wracking. They didn’t seem to like him that much either, but Naruto figured the look of disdain was something every Uchiha carried with them from the moment they were born. He wondered what Itachi would be like. Would he be mean and sassy like his younger brother? Or would he be a decent human being?

The elevator doors dinged open to a white hallway. Naruto followed the bodyguards through it; his eyes wandering across every portrait that hung along the walls. The walls were quickly replaced by floor to ceiling length glass windows, displaying the whole town of Konoha, something Naruto had never seen from up high before. The hallway ended with a large brown door with a large plaque that simply read ‘President’ on it.

The two men stopped and gestured for Naruto to head inside.

With a gulp, Naruto opened the heavy door and stepped inside to an even brighter office. He took in the color red before anything else; it decorated the room in surprising accents. A red vase on the bookshelf, a red rug, a red lantern, a red chair; they were scattered across the room to ultimately draw attention to the man seated behind the massive red desk in the center of the room. His long dark hair was gathered into a ponytail behind him, and his eyes were on Naruto the moment he opened the door.

“Welcome Naruto.” Itachi smiled at him. It was a pleasant smile, not full of sarcasm and indifference like Naruto was used to from Sasuke. “Glad you could make it.”

“Sorry it took me so long to get here.” Naruto scratched at the back of his head and lingered by the door, unsure if it was safe for him to move around.

“No worries. Come over here so I can get a good look at you.” Naruto quickly obeyed, hurrying over to Itachi’s desk as quickly as possible without tripping. “I hear you’re one of the best editors in Konoha?”

“Yessir!” Naruto smiled back, pride swelling in his chest. “I plan on carrying that title for a long time!”

“You appear to be very dedicated. Of course my kid brother would try to take that title away from you.” Itachi frowned. “It’s just like him too.”

“Taking things away from people?”

“Well you came here to get dirt on him correct? What is it that you wish to know about Sasuke?” Itachi leaned back in his seat and smiled. It almost appeared wicked; that evil glint in his eyes that Naruto had seen in Sasuke’s was all too familiar. There was no doubt they were related.

“Why is he so mean?” Naruto blurted out. He couldn’t help but ask the most obvious question, it was all that really mattered. “I mean, he doesn’t try to get close to anyone and he just sasses me to no end!”

“He’s always been sharp-tongued.” Itachi sighed, dropping his chin in his hand. “He doesn’t connect with other people well either, he’s always been an independent kid. I don’t think he liked to socialize in school either. It drove our parents insane.”

Naruto chewed on his lip as he listened, committing every fact that came out of Itachi’s mouth to memory.

“When it comes to being mean…I’d have to say it stemmed from me. He wasn’t always an angry kid, I think it only started recently…”

“Did you do something to him?”

Itachi’s lip quirked up.

“Sasuke wanted to take over the company. He argued about it with our father for hours, but my father wouldn’t comply. When he died and I took over, Sasuke became as bitter as can be and refused to work here anymore.” Itachi met Naruto’s gaze, “then he joined your company and here we are.”

“Just like that he had a career change?” Naruto scowled at the ground as he tried to put together the puzzle that made up Sasuke. He quit his family business to become an editor? Not only was that a major downsize in income, but it was a completely different job environment. What would make him want to do something like that?

“Did he ever express an interest in reading?”

“No more than the average child.” Itachi straightened up and narrowed his eyes. “I was just as surprised as you seem to be.”

Naruto nodded, not knowing what else to say. What other questions could he ask about Sasuke? What else did he wish to know?

“You seem to have a special interest in my brother. Are you a friend of his?”

Itachi’s question caught Naruto off guard. ‘A special interest’ made Naruto feel like a stalker, but there was no other way to put it. He was interested in Sasuke, much more than he was with the average person that was for sure, but they weren’t even close.

“I don’t think he considers me as a friend…yet.” Naruto chose his words carefully. Itachi studied him with the same dark eyes Sasuke possessed, raking over every feature of Naruto’s face before responding with an airy laugh.

“’Yet’…I like that. That means you haven’t given up on him.” Itachi spun his chair closer to his desk and beckoned Naruto to come over. “Let me show you some baby pictures.”

“Are you serious? Show me all of them!” Naruto rushed to Itachi’s side and watched the slideshow of baby pictures on the computer. Itachi explained the album and the reasons for Sasuke’s expressions (he cried a lot), and their laughter filled his office every time they stumbled across one of Sasuke’s Halloween photos. Naruto learned that Itachi and Sasuke had a very pretty mother who had died young of an illness when Sasuke was only five, leaving their strict father in charge of them until his recent death. Sasuke was the perfect student, but with his father running the company he was left to do whatever he pleased and dropped off of Itachi’s radar.

“He used to be so cute.” Itachi pouted, his finger resting on a photo of Sasuke in a high-chair. “Next thing I knew he was snapping at me. It was always ‘play with me Itachi, play with me’ but I never had time and kept putting him off. Now it’s come back to haunt me.”

“That’s how it always is.” Naruto sighed, capturing yet another photo onto his phone for future blackmail. “I’ll never have time for kids.”

Itachi hummed in agreement, his expression held a sort of fondness Naruto had never seen before. He supposed it was something siblings shared, almost like a parent’s bond with their child, but then again Naruto didn’t exactly know what that was like either. If Itachi was so fond of his brother, why was he so eager to tell Naruto his secrets?

“Is there…something you want me to give you in return for all of this?” Naruto straightened up a little as a small sense of dread began to trickle through his bloodstream. He couldn’t let his guard down, he was around an Uchiha; the most powerful Uchiha in fact, there’s no way he would get free information.

“Something I want?” Itachi glanced over his shoulder with a thoughtful expression. “No, no I just like to talk about Sasuke. He doesn’t ever talk about or bring around his friends so I found you extremely interesting.”

Naruto sighed in relief and dropped his shoulders.

“Actually, there is something I’d like for you to do for me.”

Naruto swallowed and braced himself for the worst. “Y-yeah?”

“Don’t give up on Sasuke, he’ll try to push you away, but he needs you.” Itachi turned back to his computer and sighed. “I already destroyed what we had, but you have a chance.”

He wanted Naruto to be Sasuke’s friend? That’s it?

Naruto tried his best not to let his scoff slip out, but it nonetheless made its appearance.

“Me? Give up?” Naruto laughed. “I never give up Itachi, don’t worry I’m going to be Sasuke’s best friend whether he likes it or not!”

“Thank you…I really appreciate that.” Naruto caught the reflection of Itachi’s smile in the computer screen. He quickly brought up the bathtub photos to Naruto’s delight and the two fell into another squealing session over Sasuke’s butt.

 

Their short bonding experience ended when Itachi’s office door was thrown open.

Naruto snapped upright in surprise, but Itachi didn’t react at all when Sasuke stormed into the room in rage.

“Itachi? What the hell is he doing here?” Sasuke demanded, thrusting a finger at Naruto. He sounded winded, almost as if he had ran there, but not a hair on him seemed out of place.

“We were just having a nice chat.” Itachi replied, casually exiting out of his photo album with a smile. “I like your friend a lot.”

“He’s not my friend!” Sasuke snapped back before he turned his fury to Naruto. “How do you know my brother and why are you here?”

“He called the office?” Naruto offered, his hands already up in surrender. “Like he said, we were just talking!”

“About what?”

“You.” Itachi’s smile widened into a cat-like grin. “I told him _everything_.”

Sasuke blanched at his brother and balled his fists at his sides. Naruto watched the anger rise in him like a boiling tea kettle and he automatically took a step back, fearing the impact.

“Naruto I need to talk to you.” Sasuke growled through his teeth and crooked his finger at Naruto before pointing out into the hallway. “Come here.”

“I don’t wanna.” Naruto whined.

“Come here.”

“You’re gonna hit me.”

“Get your ass over here!” Sasuke left the office and Naruto slowly followed after him, waving goodbye to Itachi as he left. Now Itachi had gotten him into deep shit with Sasuke and Naruto was almost sure this would be the end to his short life. Sasuke would launch him out of the window and he’d fall thirty plus floors to his death.

He walked down the hallway, following Sasuke’s footsteps in silence until they stepped into the elevator together. Naruto watched the doors close in front of them in fear. He could be killed here and no one would see…

“What did my brother tell you?” Sasuke asked quietly. It wasn’t calm‒Naruto could tell Sasuke was far from that‒he was just containing his anger for later.

“Nothing really.” Naruto remarked. He found Sasuke to be pretty cute when he was angry; that light shade of pink he got in his cheeks was adorable. If he was going to die anyway, he should drag it out as long as he could.

“Don’t play dumb with me Naruto.”

“I’ll tell you if you tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“What do you tell your brother about me?” Naruto turned to face Sasuke full on‒he didn’t have a height advantage considering they were nearly the same height, but he could at least try to intimidate him with his gaze. Sasuke didn’t seem to like prolonged eye-contact.

“I don’t say anything.” Sasuke hissed back.

“And Itachi didn’t tell me anything.” Naruto smirked.

Sasuke glared at him silently until they reached the bottom floor.

“You need to stay away from here!” Sasuke growled once they were outside. “You have no business in that building!”

Naruto narrowed his eyes. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? Itachi told me I was welcome any time!”

“You are _not_ welcome! Ever!”

“You don’t even work there anymore, you don’t have a say if I go in there or not!”

“I do have a say! I’m an Uchiha and I forbid you to step foot in that building again!” Sasuke’s voice rose to nearly a shout, the loudest he’d ever been, but Naruto was too angry to notice.

“I will do whatever the hell I want! And like hell I’m telling you what he told me!”  


“I will break your legs and throw you in the river Uzumaki!”

“Bring it you lousy Uchiha!”

“Just tell me what he said!”

Naruto shook his head defiantly and crossed his arms. “No.”

“Naruto!”

“You were a really fat baby.” Naruto hinted with a wicked grin of his own.

Sasuke stared at him in shock, recognition slowly registering on his face.

“Oh shut the hell up! Why can’t you just leave me alone?!”

“Really? Leave you alone? After what happened the other day?” Naruto took a step towards Sasuke, pushing him back. “I can’t leave you alone, period.”

“I don’t need you.” Sasuke growled. “I can take care of myself. I have been, long before you, so butt out of my life and go live your own!”

“You’re the one that walked right into it!”

“I did not.”

“You did! You’re a lousy bastard and you piss me off more than anyone else on this planet but you still did!”

“If I’m a lousy bastard and piss you off so much, why do you fucking care?!” Sasuke hardened his gaze and stepped forward again, but Naruto wasn’t about to let himself be pushed back.

“Because I like you!” Naruto shouted. When he realized what he said he quickly rambled on, “I-I told you last time, we’re friends! Of course I’m gonna care about you!”

Sasuke’s anger died at Naruto’s words. It simmered into nothing and left him glaring at the ground with a somewhat defeated look.

“We aren’t friends.” Sasuke muttered under his breath.

“Yeah yeah keep saying that.” Naruto hummed, thankful for his quick rebound. The two stood in silence for a few seconds, thrown back into reality; the bustling traffic of Konoha’s rush hour had begun and people were crowding the streets. Naruto didn’t want to go home yet though. The sun was still out and Sasuke was still standing in front of him, staring at the ground like he wanted it to suck him up and out of existence. Naruto had an idea. “Sasuke, come out for a drink with me.”

Sasuke’s head snapped up. “What?”

“Let’s go get a drink! We’re both done with work and it’s Friday—”

“No.”

“Come on, it’ll be fun!”

“I don’t drink.”

“You liar!” Naruto cried. “Sasuke just one drink, you owe me.”

Naruto automatically felt bad for pulling the card, but he didn’t know how else to get him to come along. He hoped Sasuke would comply rather than get angry.

Sasuke opened his mouth to protest and promptly shut it. He seemed to run something through his head while he searched Naruto’s expression. “Fine.”

Naruto had to bite back his urge to jump for joy as he dragged the dark haired boy with him through the flow of people on the sidewalks. He made sure Sasuke didn’t try to slip away into the crowd to make his escape or turn around while Naruto wasn’t looking; he wouldn’t put it past Sasuke to try.

Sasuke kept his eyes down while they walked, allowing himself to be guided to an unknown destination without a care in the world. He responded to Naruto’s chatter with nods and ‘tch’s that made Naruto’s heart swell more than it should.

Naruto ended up dragging Sasuke to one of the bars he normally frequented with Kiba on their days off. It was situated a little far from Naruto’s apartment, but it was nearby their current location, and Naruto realized it had been a while since he had last been there.

Sasuke picked the table; he led Naruto to the back area of the bar, away from the crowd of people sitting in the front and hidden from view.

“Don’t want to be bothered.” Sasuke told him when he asked, his as voice cold as usual. Naruto shrugged it off and bought them their first round of beers.

“Loosen up a little!” Naruto teased and shook his beer bottle at him. “It’s just me, geez.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and took a sip of his beer. His eyes glanced over every corner of the room before they landed on Naruto. “Okay, you dragged me out here, so entertain me.”

_Entertain me._

Naruto snorted and proceeded to chug the rest of his beer. Sasuke watched him in mild disgust; his own beer bottle poised in front of his mouth waiting for Naruto to finish.

“’Kay ask me anything and I’ll tell you.”

“What did my brother tell‒”

“Anything but that.” Naruto raised a finger before he proceeded to open his next beer. “Like my family, my past, my sex life…”

Sasuke pursed his lips and finished off the rest of his beer with a pensive look.

“Okay, what about…”

And just like that Sasuke launched a multitude of questions at him. What did he like to do in school, who was his first girlfriend, when did his parents die?

Naruto responded eagerly, happy that Sasuke was finally curious about him and relieved that Sasuke was starting to open up and relax. After a while, Naruto began to realize that he was getting a little…too relaxed. Sasuke plowed his way through six beers without Naruto noticing until it was too late, and by then they were both giggling at each other.

“I’m telling you he let me fall down the stairs!” Sasuke popped open his seventh beer with a smile. “I got my first bloody nose and all he could do was laugh at me!”

Naruto had to set his beer down to stop it from spilling while he laughed. He had gotten the impression that Itachi was a good guy‒but then again, like Kiba said, siblings would always betray you in the end. Naruto didn’t have siblings so he didn’t know what it was like. He imagined it would be nice; someone by your side who you could teach and tease, someone to keep you company and watch out for you when your parents were gone…that seemed nice. Sasuke liked to talk about his brother. The times he’d been humiliated by him and the good times they shared before they grew apart, all of the memories he shared with Naruto were told with a smile and Naruto loved it. Sasuke had an amazing smile, it seemed out of place on a face that just scowled all the time; this was more natural. It was dazzling and it drew Naruto in; he could see why people thought Sasuke was so charming.

Naruto knew he was falling hard. He didn’t know if it would be better to suppress it or just go along with it. He had finally managed to get through to Sasuke, did he really want to ruin it to pursue his own selfish desire?

“Sasuke you should smile more.” Naruto hummed and dropped his cheek into his hand. “I guarantee people would like you more.”

Sasuke paused from his drink, a smile already threatening the corners of his lips. His cheeks were dusted in a fair shade of pink and his eyes appeared black in the lighting.

“I don’t care what people think of me. They approach me because they find me attractive and they leave when they see what my personality is, that’s just the way it works.”

“Have you ever had a girlfriend?”

“Not really. I have my flings and then I move on. I don’t have time for a girlfriend.” Sasuke huffed with another sip.

“I’m sure if you opened up a little the whole world would fall in love with you.”

“Oh yeah? What about you top-shot? I heard from Sakura that you’re quite the ladies’ man.” Sasuke teased with a raised brow.

Naruto felt the smile slip off his face. Sakura knew that was in the past. Maybe not that far in the past, but Naruto had stopped his one night stands and partner jumping. He told himself it was because of work and he didn’t have the time, and Naruto tried to convince himself it was because he loved Sakura, but maybe he was looking for something a little more stable. He didn’t know how far he could open up to Sasuke without making him uncomfortable, but he wanted to be honest.

“I’ve had my fair share of flings.” Naruto admitted. “I don’t know if the ladies loved me, they hung around me when I went to bars and sometimes I’d go home with them, but it wasn’t always just women.”

“Men too?” Sasuke asked in surprise, his beer briefly forgotten in his hand.

“Yeah, but that was a while back. I still consider myself bi though…” Naruto said warily, bringing his beer to his lips to drown away his discomfort.

“Wow I had no idea.” Sasuke replied and leaned across the table onto his elbows. “I always thought you were straight! Are you in love with Kiba then?”

Naruto almost choked on his beer.

“No! Kiba and I are just friends from college!”

“Oh? Well that’s okay.” Sasuke’s words slurred and he frowned down at the table in frustration. He brought his eyes up to Naruto’s and offered him a small smile. “I’m sure you could get whoever you wanted, you’re a nice guy.”

Naruto stared at Sasuke in surprise. Was he just complimented? By Sasuke?!

_He’s so drunk, I should probably stop him._

“People tend to dig the blonde hair and blue eyes combo, even if you’re stupid, they won’t care.” Sasuke chuckled and fished around their depleting basket of fries.

_I’m not going to stop him. I’m going to see where this takes us._

Within the next hour, Sasuke had plowed straight through his limit and nearly drowned Naruto in compliments. The guy became nice when he was drunk and failed to believe in _personal space_ , leaning onto Naruto while laughing and whispering random thoughts into Naruto’s ear like they were the secrets of the universe. Naruto refused to drink anymore after his third beer, knowing that it was going to be his duty to get the Uchiha home before he could cause trouble and ruin his oh-so-perfect reputation.

The walk to Sasuke’s apartment wasn’t easy.

Sasuke put too much weight on Naruto’s side, forcing them to shuffle down the less crowded streets of Konoha to avoid attention; Sasuke’s giggling filled the night air as they walked.

“I would call you a lightweight but you plowed through almost nine beers tonight.” Naruto grumbled when Sasuke’s apartment came into view.

“Nine beers is nothing.” Sasuke replied with a wave of his hand. “It’s been a while so…”

“Yeah, yeah.” Naruto muttered as he unlocked the front door with the key he took from Sasuke’s pocket.

The interior was just as fancy as Naruto remembered it being; the high ceiling with the fancy chandelier dangling from the center, the marble floors of the small lobby area, and the brand new elevators along the wall made Naruto fear what the monthly rent bill looked like.

He shuffled himself and Sasuke into the elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor with a huff. Sasuke hummed along to the elevator music as they rode up, his eyes on the little flat screen TV in the corner of the interior. Naruto rolled his eyes; Sasuke was a completely different person when he was wasted, and at this point Naruto didn’t know which one he preferred.

Naruto figured his job would be over once he opened the door to Sasuke’s apartment for him, but when Sasuke invited him inside, Naruto couldn’t say no. He followed Sasuke inside; the first section of the apartment he’d seen when Sasuke treated his wounds, but the rest of the apartment was new to him.

Sasuke had a spacious living room, but it was sparsely decorated. A large black couch took up a lot of the space and so did the massive flat screen TV against the wall, yet there was still room to maneuver around the place. The living room ran into the dining room which connected to the kitchen; it was bigger than Naruto and Sakura’s and filled with fancy new appliances that had probably never been used.

He couldn’t help but be awestruck at Sasuke’s living conditions. It must be nice, having so much money and not knowing what to do with it; especially having such a nice spacious place all to yourself.

Naruto dropped onto the couch beside Sasuke and let out a yawn. The day’s events were starting to catch up to him and leave him feeling exhausted. Sasuke must’ve felt the same as he leaned his head to rest on Naruto’s shoulder so easily Naruto would’ve believed Sasuke was a friendly person.

“You didn’t have to drag me home.”

“Yeah I did you can barely walk on your own.”

“I would’ve found a way.” Sasuke mumbled. He tilted his head to look Naruto in the eyes before he sat up. “You’re just too nice for your own good.”

“You’re just not used to nice.” Naruto replied with a small smile. “Be nice and others will be nice to you.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “That’s too much work.”

Naruto didn’t know how it happened, but the next thing he knew, his hand was roaming through Sasuke’s dark hair. His fingers slipped through the soft, silky strands with ease, noticing that it was nothing like his thick and tangled hair.

“Sorry you had a strand sticking up.” Naruto lied. He couldn’t take his hand away though, it moved behind his ear, along the back of his neck where the hairs got finer, and back up to Sasuke’s bangs, which he brushed to the side gently. To Naruto’s surprise, Sasuke let him do it. He closed his eyes and let Naruto run his fingers through his hair, making a small hum in the back of his throat while he did so.

_He’s like a cat._

“I’m not like a cat.” Sasuke muttered at Naruto’s quiet remark. He opened one eye and attempted to glare at him, but failed and ended up breaking into a smile.

“You are like a cat! You’re so cute I just want to pet you.” Naruto ran his fingers through his hair a few more times before he realized what he said. _Well shit…_

“You think I’m cute?” Sasuke replied. Naruto didn’t want to see Sasuke’s reaction; he was expecting to get smacked or called loser, anything remotely Sasuke-like to snap him out of his dream, but when he met Sasuke’s gaze he realized that the dark haired boy was serious.

“Well…yeah.” Naruto admitted, letting his hand idle on the back of Sasuke’s smooth neck. He could feel his face burning under Sasuke’s stare and his palms were starting to sweat. _Oooh boy did it get hot in here or‒_

“Thanks.” Sasuke said quietly, but he quickly added with a pout, “but I’m not cute.”

Naruto couldn’t stop himself from breaching the small gap between them and pressing his lips to Sasuke’s. Sasuke’s lips parted on command against Naruto’s, letting out a small moan as Naruto ran his tongue along the inside of his mouth. Naruto couldn’t believe how soft Sasuke’s lips were; and he was just as surprised when Sasuke started to kiss him back, his own delicate fingers weaving their way through Naruto’s thick blonde hair and giving it a little tug. The small tingle of sensation brought Naruto back to reality and he pulled away with a lewd pop.

He had to stop before he went too far.

“I-I have to go Sasuke.” Naruto stammered and stood up quickly. His breathing was already a lot faster than it needed to be, he had to go home before he did something he shouldn’t‒if he didn’t already.

“You have to go?” Sasuke echoed with a frown. When Naruto moved to walk past him, Sasuke’s hand gripped Naruto’s wrist. “No, can’t you stay?”

“I…I don’t know if I should…”

“I have plenty of room.” Sasuke stood up. “I have another bedroom, or you could sleep on the couch.”

Naruto chewed on his lower lip and dropped his gaze. His skin felt like it was burning underneath Sasuke’s cold grip, and his heart felt like it was going to rupture, and still he couldn’t say no to Sasuke. Thinking about it, living alone in such a large apartment sounded extremely lonely. It was too much space for one person, and Naruto wondered how long Sasuke had been living like this. Leaving him alone felt like a cruel act of punishment rather than a favor.

“The couch is fine.”

Sasuke brought him a few pillows and blankets from the spare bedroom and dropped them onto the couch.

“Make yourself at home.” He said quietly.

“Thanks.” Naruto settled underneath one of the blankets and found himself extremely comfortable. “Goodnight Sasuke.”

“Don’t let the ghost that lives here haunt you and possess your body.” He replied in a monotone and shut off the light. Naruto stared into the darkness with wide eyes and brought the blanket over his head to hide.

_Damn you Sasuke!_  
  


Naruto woke up at a seemingly ungodly hour; the sunlight streamed through the windows and lit up the apartment; the clock on the wall read ten-thirty. Naruto frowned, he was used to sleeping in until at least twelve, yet here he was, on Sasuke’s couch fully awake on only nine hours of sleep.

“I’m in too deep.” Naruto whimpered quietly and stared at the high ceiling. He didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye to Sasuke, but he also feared the wrath that might come with a hungover Sasuke. He didn’t believe it would be pleasant, but could it be that much worse than Sasuke on the average day?

He didn’t have to wonder for too long. Fifteen minutes later, Sasuke emerged from his bedroom and walked into the kitchen. He rummaged around the fridge for a few minutes before he came into the living room.

Naruto stretched out with a yawn to let him know that he was awake. He flipped onto his stomach to look at Sasuke.

“Did you forget that I was here?”

Sasuke blinked at him before taking a sip of his water.

“No, I’m used to waking up with people on my couch.”

Naruto frowned, not sure what to make of that comment, and sat up.

“Did you sleep well?”

Sasuke dropped his eyes to examine his water bottle with a bored expression.

“More or less.” He lifted his gaze to meet Naruto’s. “How was the couch?”

“Comfier than my own bed.” Naruto groaned back, dropping his face onto one of the pillows. “But I expected as much.”

Sasuke let out an affirmative hum and proceeded to drink his water. He stood rooted in the middle of the room, held down by an invisible anchor. Naruto began to worry if Sasuke remembered what happened last night‒and if that was what made him keep his distance.

“Sorry I let you drink so much last night.” Naruto tried to give him a good-natured laugh, but he felt as if it fell a little short.

Sasuke made a sour face and squeezed the air out of his plastic bottle with a loud crunch.

“It wasn’t all bad.”

“You don’t look hungover at all.” It was true, Sasuke looked as how he normally did; aside from the messy hair and sweatpants, along with a t-shirt slightly too large for him that he’d probably never wear outside even if his life depended on it. He didn’t look tired or angry, angrier than he normally was; Naruto was starting to truly believe that Sasuke was not human.

“Yeah, well.” Sasuke said bluntly. Naruto could finish the sentence on his own. _I sure as hell feel like it._

“Yeah sorry. I dragged you out and let you blow past your limit…” Naruto sat up with a sheepish smile. _Please don’t hate me._

“It doesn’t matter, I had a good time.” Sasuke said under his breath, or at least, that’s what Naruto heard.

“What did you say‒”

“Do you want breakfast?” Sasuke asked suddenly, glancing over his shoulder.

“Uh…sure?”

Naruto watched Sasuke pad back into the kitchen without another word. After a few heartbeats of sitting in awe, Naruto finally found the strength to get up and follow Sasuke into the kitchen.

Naruto knew there was no going back now. He had officially fallen for Sasuke. As mad as that made him, Naruto couldn’t help the smile that came to his face when Sasuke scowled at him as he stepped into the kitchen to join him. Nor could he stop himself from laughing whenever the boy called him ‘loser’ or ‘idiot’; to him they were simply words of endearment that he wanted to hold close to him in fear that they’d be given to someone else.

“Quit staring at me you idiot!” Sasuke snapped and pushed him aside so he could stand at the counter.

Naruto scooted to the side and gave Sasuke a cheeky smile. _I wouldn’t be able to stop staring, even if I tried._

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aww how cheesy was that ending? Pretty cheesy right? And that Sasuke being a tsundere….I hope you all have enjoyed it so far and as always, please leave your thoughts in the comments, we love to hear what people think. Also, feel free to check out Wings and I Think You’re My Best Friend, our two other stories, which are Attack on Titan focused.   
> ^^^^  
> Despite college killing me on the inside, I'll never stop cracking out the chapters (Or the NaruSasu love)! I plan on adding 3 more chapters after this one, but I've been too scared to set the end mark until I finish the last chapter and write everything out...anyway, thanks for reading and we'll see y'all at the next chapter where Naruto takes his crush for Sasuke to the next level....Look forward to it!!


	4. Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto’s bored-lately editing has been going very smoothly, so he decides to take advantage of his break by getting to know Sasuke better. That’s if Sasuke will actually stop being an idiot and let him.

Naruto’s paranoia refused to go away.

It made him tap his pen anxiously against his desk as he watched the seconds tick by at work, sitting in a surprisingly quiet office with a knot in his stomach. No one spoke; the only sound that filled the air was the typing of keys and the clicking of computer mice. Not even the phones rang; it was almost as if the office was isolated from the rest of the world.

That wasn’t what bothered Naruto.

His dilemma resided in the fact that the dark haired boy, who had somehow stolen his heart, was silent. It wasn’t like the usual quiet where he was blatantly ignoring someone, or silently judging someone from his seat; no this was different. Sasuke was being the _nice_ kind of quiet.

He’d answer people’s questions without a hint of sass and would keep to himself, deeply focused on whatever he was doing, and he never spared a glance in Naruto’s direction.

Naruto needed to know what was going on. The amount of time he’d spent sweating over what could possibly be going through Sasuke’s head was embarrassing; the amount of times he’d looked in Sasuke’s direction was no better.

Naruto waited until lunch break to approach Sasuke. He walked slowly; making sure Sasuke saw him coming and checked for any signs of panic. If Sasuke was trying to avoid him, he sure wasn’t showing it; he watched Naruto walk up with a blank expression and lifted an eyebrow when he didn’t speak right away.

“Can I have your phone number?” Naruto decided to be straightforward. He pulled out his phone and held it in the space between them.

Sasuke stared at it for a few seconds, and in that small amount of time Naruto’s inner turmoil increased tenfold. What if he said no? What then?

Sasuke took the phone without a word and punched in his number. Naruto watched his fingers dance over his keyboard without a single mistake, and the next thing he knew his phone was being handed back to him.

“Thanks.” Naruto smiled as he slid his phone back into his pocket.

“Yeah yeah.” Sasuke sighed and went back to work.

 

The rest of the day went by slow. The authors were all doing too well, it almost made Naruto suspicious. No one turned in their chapters late and no one asked for advice anymore; whenever Naruto called they insisted that they were fine and all was going well. He figured if the sales kept going up and the chapters came on time, he didn’t have a problem with it.

He was preparing himself to leave early when Neji breezed into the room, his eyes locked on Naruto.

“Brace yourself.” Neji warned and dropped a heavy packet onto Naruto’s desk. “I read this on the way here and it was terrible.”

“Vulgar-terrible or stupid-terrible?” Naruto weighed the package in his hands with a frown.

“You can be the judge of that. I gagged on my way down here though.” Neji shook his head. He nodded his head at Kiba before he waved goodbye. “Good luck.”

“Oh boy.” Naruto said quietly and peeked into it to see the first page. Once he realized what he was looking at, he quickly shut the envelope and prayed his face wasn’t giving anything away.

“Well?” Kiba leaned over to peek at the envelope with an eager expression. “What is it?”

“Sai’s new story.” Naruto said simply and pushed the envelope into the corner of his desk. “The first chapter of it.”

“And?” Naruto could imagine the eyes popping out of Kiba’s head. “Is it vulgar or stupid?”

“Ah…well…” Naruto’s eyes landed on the packet again. He wasn’t looking forward to editing that any time soon. “Not sure…”

Naruto was speechless when Sasuke held out an expectant hand.

“Let me see it.”

Naruto didn’t hesitate in handing it over. He kept his eyes trained on Sasuke’s face, watching to see if his expression would change.

Sasuke slid out the first couple of pages and looked through them. He blinked at the first page and quickly flipped to the next, and then the next as if he were in doubt. Once he registered what he was looking at, he quickly stuffed the papers back into the envelope and handed it over to Naruto without a word. Although Sasuke’s face was neutral, Naruto knew he was panicking just as much as he was.

“Oh come on! I wanna see!” Kiba exclaimed.

“You don’t want to.” Sasuke spun back around and went back to his work again. “Sometimes what you see can’t be unseen.”

“Wise words.” Naruto nodded in agreement. He dropped the papers into his bag and zipped it up, wondering how long he could procrastinate this one. Probably not as long as he wanted to.

 

Naruto walked around his apartment looking for something to occupy himself. With Sakura gone, he didn’t know what to do; an empty apartment was rare these days. He figured he’d settle on just watching TV, but his mind was stuck somewhere else. He slid around the hardwood floors in his socks with his cell phone clasped in his hand, stuck on Sasuke’s contact page. His finger hovered over the call button, but he never actually pushed it.

“Stop being a wuss Naruto.” He hissed to himself and proceeded to spin in circles around the kitchen. He spun until he made himself dizzy and hunched over the counter, staring at the phone until the words stopped blurring together. He was going to do it. What was the worst that could happen?

The phone rang several times; Naruto put it on speaker phone so he could continue to slide up and down the kitchen floors to entertain himself. When Sasuke answered, his voice was loud in the empty apartment.

“ _What_?”

“Hey Sasukeee.” Naruto sang. He returned to the counter to stare down at his phone. “Whatcha doin’?”

Sasuke sighed on the other line and Naruto could picture him pinching the bridge of his nose.

“ _Depends. Why_?”

“Will you hang out with me?”

“ _…Hang out_?” Sasuke questioned with a hint of suspicion.

“Yeah Sakura’s gone for the weekend at her friend’s and I’m super bored.” Naruto chewed on his lip, trying to come up with a convincing argument for why he should come.

“ _Can’t you be annoying by yourself_?”  
“No?”

Sasuke was silent. There was the sound of something opening and closing before Sasuke groaned. “ _Fine. I’ll be over there in fifteen_.”

“Yay!”

Sasuke hung up on him quickly, leaving Naruto to victory dance around the apartment in his orange socks and with a dorky smile. He didn’t expect Sasuke to actually say yes; he figured it must be his own charm that had finally won Sasuke over.

Naruto ducked into the fridge and opened up a beer, waiting for the doorbell to ring or his phone to buzz.

He tried not to act too excited when his doorbell finally rang; after buzzing Sasuke in, he ran into the hallway and leaned over the banister to watch Sasuke walk up the stairs.

“You came!”

Sasuke looked up, his expression unimpressed. “You invited me.”

Naruto gestured for Sasuke to hurry up and follow him inside, beer can still in hand. Sasuke rolled his eyes and followed him in with his hands deep in his jeans’ pockets. His eyes darted over every part of the apartment, taking in details that Naruto had gotten used to, and it reminded Naruto of the way he had looked around Sasuke’s place when he was there.

“You can sit wherever ya want.” Naruto gestured towards the armchairs and couch. He turned to wave his beer can. “Want one?”

“Sure.” Sasuke lowered himself onto the couch and stared at the commercial on television. He didn’t relax when Naruto dropped into the seat next to him, nor did he automatically open his can of beer. He turned it around in his hands absentmindedly while he watched TV, but Naruto had a feeling that his mind was far from what was happening on the screen.

“Is everything all right with you?” Naruto leaned over to rest his elbows on his knees and directed his full gaze on Sasuke. “It’s not like you to be this quiet. And nice.”

“Who’s nice?” Sasuke scoffed. He turned the beer can over in his hand to read the brand before he opened it. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Uh huh. And my favorite color isn’t orange.” When Sasuke made a puzzled face, Naruto lifted up his leg to show off his orange socks and gestured at his orange shirt.

“Whatever.”

Naruto didn’t know how to get the truth out of him. He didn’t want to force it; that plan would just backfire on him. Perhaps the best way to get honesty was to be honest in the first place.

“I need to tell you something.”

Sasuke took a small sip of his beer and paused, sensing the lack of humor in Naruto’s voice. “What?”

“When I first met you…I hated you, like a lot. And I don’t think that’s right, because I didn’t even know you. I thought you were just some cocky guy waltzing into our building trying to take my title away from me.”

Sasuke wiggled the tab to his beer can until it popped off. “Why do you care so much about being the next Hokage?”

“It was always my dream. My parents died before I got to know them and I was raised by my godfather, who’s a pretty well-known writer in town. He got me reading and when he told me that my father was one of the Hokages I made a promise to myself that I would become even greater than he was.” Naruto felt himself blush at the memory. “But I’m kinda starting to think that it’s a little too far out of my reach.”

“It’s not.” Sasuke said quietly. He went back to his beer and dropped his gaze to the rug beneath them.

“What I’m trying to say is that I used to hate you, but now I see that you’re just a mysterious guy who’s been misunderstood and who can be super nice when your guard is down. And people who are nice with their guard down are naturally kind people.”

Sasuke kept his eyes on the ground, but a rosy hue began to dust his pale cheeks. He said something under his breath and Naruto leaned closer to hear it. Sasuke turned towards him at the same moment and their foreheads collided with a _thunk_.

Naruto didn’t move away, he just winced at the small jab of pain and stared into the opaque abyss of Sasuke’s eyes. They swirled with emotions, none of which Naruto could place, and before he could say anything, Sasuke sucked in a sharp breath and got to his feet.

“I need you to tell me the truth.” Sasuke’s voice was sharp and his eyes hardened. By standing over Naruto he appeared a lot more menacing than he normally did, and his rigid posture didn’t settle Naruto’s nerves either.

“Of course.” Naruto kept his voice soft and looked up at him. _I thought I just did…_

Sasuke glared down at him for a few moments before he spoke again.

“I need to know why you’re so set on me.”

Naruto felt his stomach drop. “What?”

“What do you want from me?”

Naruto slowly stood up to properly look him in the eye. “I don’t want anything from you.”

“Bullshit! Everyone wants something from me, so just tell me!”

“Sasuke I don’t know what you mean!”

“Whether it’s money, power, a place at my family’s company, or status, people only hang around me when they want something.” Sasuke set his beer can on the coffee table and ran a hand through his dark hair, tousling it. “So just…tell me what you want.”

Naruto could feel the flash of anger returning. What kind of shitty person did Sasuke think he was? It offended him more than anything, and the words stung worse than any cut or bruise he’d received in his life.

“Why would you think I’m anything like those assholes?!”

“Why would I think you’re any different?!”

Naruto stepped back as if he were struck. Sasuke noticed, but his expression hardened.

“Sasuke, please don’t associate me with those people.”

“Well you won’t tell me why you’re so damn obsessed with me!”

“Why do I need a reason? I told you, we’re _friends_!” Naruto tried to exaggerate the word so Sasuke would understand. Sasuke was mentally pushing him into a corner, as he was running out of ways to console Sasuke’s damaged heart.

“We barely know each other!”

“That’s not true!” Naruto took a step forward and Sasuke took one back. “Your favorite color is blue, you like being alone more than you like being around others, your closest friend is Suigetsu, your favorite liquor is rum, you hate dancing, your brother dressed you in girl clothes until you were three, you hate sweets, you don’t have a favorite food, you dated Karin and left her when you went to college, and you’re scared of letting people get close to you because you’re scared they won’t like you for your personality!” Naruto took a deep breath and smiled triumphantly. “There’s so much more, but do you get it yet?”

Sasuke stared at Naruto in shock. He slowly shook his head with a bitter laugh.

“I told you all of those things when I was drunk.”

“All I want from you is your company Sasuke.”

“What a load of shit!”

“Why? Because no one’s ever said that to you before? Ever heard of new experiences?”

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut and let out a gust of air. Naruto took it as his moment to grab Sasuke by the shoulder and shook him until his teeth rattled.

“I. Like. Spending. Time. With. You.” Naruto enunciated to him slowly.

“Cut it out!”

“Even when you call me an idiot, or a loser, even if you’re mean to me, I still like spending time with you! You make me laugh, you have a great smile, and you’re very fashionable!”

Sasuke’s expression turned pained and Naruto stopped shaking him.

“I just want to know why.” The small voice that responded didn’t sound like Sasuke at all. This person was broken, tired, and vulnerable. It belonged to the Sasuke that Naruto found in the alley that night, taken advantage of and left to suffer at the hands of others. It made Naruto sad to see him like this, but it also gave him a sense of importance. Sasuke was showing him all of this; this was the real Sasuke. Without the cover-up of sarcasm and bitter remarks and without the sneer he had practiced for so long it had become a part of his character. This was Sasuke in his moment of weakness and Naruto had to tell him that he wasn’t going to let him down.

Naruto let out a deep breath, letting his frustration flow away as he processed the broken boy in front of him.

“You want to know why?” Naruto gently asked.

Sasuke hesitated before he nodded his head, not looking up.

“It’s because I’m in love with you.” Naruto grasped Sasuke’s face in his hands, just in time to see the shocked look in Sasuke’s eyes as he pressed their lips together.

Naruto could feel the hesitation in the kiss as Sasuke processed what Naruto said. Slowly, his hand slipped into Naruto’s blonde hair and instead of pushing him away, he pulled him closer. Sasuke’s tongue roamed across Naruto’s lips and he quickly parted them to grant Sasuke entrance to his mouth. Their tongues mingled with one another in a mixture of saliva and moans; Naruto felt a thin line of spit escape the side of his mouth and run down his chin.

He pushed Sasuke up against the wall, bracing his thigh between Sasuke’s legs and twirling his fingers through the dark haired boy’s satin-like hair as their breathing grew faster. Sasuke nibbled on Naruto’s lip and a small gasp escaped when Naruto brushed his knee against the boy’s groin, which was growing harder by the minute as they made out in the hallway.

With the aching pulse in his pants driving him, Naruto tugged Sasuke’s shirt over his head and carelessly tossed it on the floor beside them. He ran his hands along the contours of Sasuke’s stomach, indulging in the way Sasuke’s breath stuttered at his touches. Soon enough, his own shirt was pulled over his head and tossed aside, and Sasuke’s cold fingers skimmed across his shoulders as their lips came into contact again.

Naruto didn’t hesitate when he unzipped Sasuke’s pants and tugged them down, as he only had one thing on his mind. He wanted Sasuke naked. _Now_.

Sasuke helped him; he shimmied out of his pants and undid Naruto’s just as swiftly, leaving the two in just their underwear.

Naruto couldn’t help the smile that crept across his face, slightly interrupting their kiss.

“I knew you wore boxers.” Naruto whispered against Sasuke’s lips.

“W-what?”

“Never mind.” Naruto hummed back. To interrupt Sasuke’s interjection he ground his hips against Sasuke for friction, causing Sasuke to whimper in response. Sasuke’s touches were no longer cold, but fiery hot and eager; they burned lines across his skin as they moved from his back to his hips, tugging down the waistband of Naruto’s underwear.

“Wait…” Naruto tilted his head to whisper into Sasuke’s ear huskily, “bedroom.”

The two slowly broke contact and turned down the hallway, nearly running to get to Naruto’s room and continue. Sasuke dropped onto Naruto’s bed while Naruto fished around his drawer for his bottle of lube. He popped it open in satisfaction and moved to straddle Sasuke.

“Oh god.” He wheezed as Naruto settled on his lap. Naruto wiggled his eyebrows and ducked down to peck Sasuke on the lips before he waved the bottle in Sasuke’s face.

Sasuke tugged down the band to Naruto’s boxers, allowing his erection to spring free up against his stomach and Naruto smiled at the way Sasuke’s face got redder. He rolled off of him to fully slide out of his underwear and proceeded to tug off Sasuke’s as well.

Naruto couldn’t help but stare.

It was shocking how perfect someone could be; and Naruto was all about admiring people’s bodies. Sasuke’s flawless, creamy skin covered ridges of abdominal muscle and V-lines that some men would kill for.

He was aware that Sasuke was looking at him too. His gaze roamed across Naruto’s chest and down his hips, fueling the burning ache Naruto felt in the pit of his stomach as he settled between Sasuke’s legs and squirted a heavy amount of lube into his palm.

“So, uh…” Sasuke glanced down at him with a winded look. “What…exactly are you doing?”

“I’m assuming you have zero experience with guys.” Naruto hummed and smeared his finger in the lube before bringing it to Sasuke’s ass. “I’m lubing you up so you’re nice and loose.”

“You’re…gonna fit _that thing_ in me?”

“If you’re referring to my dick, then yes.” Naruto slowly slid in his first finger and smiled. “I promise I’ll be gentle.”

With a groan, Sasuke let his head flop against the pillow. He took the first finger well, but when Naruto added the second digit he let out a small whine of discomfort.

“You gotta relax Sasuke.”

“I _am_ relaxing.”

“Well you’re tightening up on me.”

“I can’t help it!”

Naruto bit back a grin and went back to slowly jerking him off. Soon, he could feel Sasuke’s body gradually relax around him and he thrusted in both fingers knuckle-deep.

“Holy shit.” Sasuke moaned underneath him, giving Naruto the response he was looking for. He continued adding and subtracting his fingers until he was sure Sasuke was ready.

He carefully lubed himself up and crawled between Sasuke’s legs to kiss him again.

“Oh god it’s coming.” Sasuke whimpered, mostly to himself, and Naruto smiled against his mouth.

“Give me some credit Sasuke.” Naruto snickered and brought his hand back down to palm at Sasuke’s dick.

“Quit messing with me and just do it already.”

“You sure?”

Sasuke gave him a stiff nod and closed his eyes. Naruto kissed his eyelids and down his jawline while he slowly positioned himself at Sasuke’s entrance. Just as Sasuke let out a little moan, Naruto pushed in the tip, causing the moan to deepen and Sasuke’s eyes flew open in surprise. He slowly pushed deeper, feeling Sasuke’s tight walls constrict around him as he went, and Sasuke’s breathing hitched.

“Ow…” Sasuke hissed once Naruto was halfway in. “Why does it keep going?”

“Shhh.” Naruto pressed their lips together and began to stroke Sasuke at a steady rhythm, causing Sasuke’s erection to return to full-hardness; Naruto was beginning to feel the wet sensation of pre-cum on his stomach.

With a careful thrust, he pushed farther into Sasuke and tried to commit the sounds he made to memory, moaning underneath Naruto as he finally went as deep as he could; both of them were panting as if they had run a marathon.

“I’m…finally in.” Naruto laughed airily. Sasuke only groaned in response, pulling Naruto down by the neck and burying his fingers in Naruto’s hair. “I’m…gonna start moving, okay?”

“Nn.”

Naruto carefully pulled out a little before thrusting back in, causing a sharp cry from Sasuke and a hard tug at Naruto’s roots.

“Ow! Fuck, Sasuke!”

“If I hurt, we both hurt.” He hissed through gritted teeth and tightened his hold. Naruto moved slower, bucking their hips together until Sasuke’s legs widened in ecstasy and his breathing turned into constant utterings of “fuck” and “harders”. He started focusing on finding Sasuke’s sweet spot; he shifted a little to get the right angle and pounded into the boy with everything he had, and at one point, Sasuke’s back arched a little off the bed and he let out a high mewl.

_Found it._

Naruto focused on hitting that sole spot, leaving Sasuke in a whimpering mess underneath him; one hand had a strong hold on Naruto’s hair, the other grazed his muscular back with every thrust. The skin between them had turned slick with Sasuke’s pre-cum and Naruto knew they were both reaching their limit. He quickly brought his mouth back to Sasuke’s and kept his quick rhythm, letting out a few moans of his own as Sasuke panted underneath him, bucking his hips up against him as a reflex.

And then, almost without warning, Sasuke’s body tensed up; his back arched off the bed and with a loud gasp, Sasuke came, splattering both of their stomachs with cum. His body clamped down around Naruto, nearly forcing the orgasm out of him as he pushed in one last time, unable to pull out before it was too late. He rode out the orgasm with a groan before he pulled out and settled his head on Sasuke’s chest, trying to catch his breath.

Naruto’s head rose and fell with every breath Sasuke took, and soon he could feel fingers roaming through his hair again. He closed his eyes at the sensation and hummed in the back of his throat, mimicking Sasuke.

“How was it?” Naruto asked softly, grazing Sasuke’s ribcage with his thumb.

“I dunno…it was alright I guess.” Naruto’s head snapped up to look at Sasuke’s expression in horror. It quickly turned to annoyance when he saw Sasuke grinning. “Just kidding.”

“Not funny.” Naruto huffed and dropped his head back to Sasuke’s chest. He listened to the steadying heartbeat underneath his ear and smiled to himself. _Guess he’s human after all._

“You did really well for your first time.” Naruto told him. When he didn’t get a reply, he turned his head to see that Sasuke had fallen asleep. His dark lashes stood out in contrast to his fair skin, and his sleeping face was one of the most precious things Naruto had ever seen in his entire life. With a quiet laugh, Naruto rolled off of Sasuke and pulled the blanket up to cover them both. The sun had gone down a while ago, but the bedroom was still bathed in a soft orange glow.

“Goodnight Sasuke.” Naruto whispered and snuggled against the dark haired boy, resting his head on his shoulder and wrapping an arm around his chest.

 

 

Naruto woke up with the bright sun in his face and in a surprisingly good mood. He stretched with a yawn and turned to his side; he nearly squawked in surprise.

Sasuke lay on his stomach with his face buried in Naruto’s pillows. The blanket had ridden down in the night and barely covered his ass, leaving his entire torso on display in the sun.

Naruto stared at the smooth curvature of Sasuke’s spine, fighting the urge to run his fingers along it or kiss the soft texture of his skin. Naruto had been convinced that it had all been a dream and that he would wake up to an empty bed, but here he was in reality, with Sasuke lightly snoring beside him completely naked in his bed.

He carefully slipped out of bed and padded to the bathroom. He dodged every creaky board in the hallway and left the bathroom door cracked to avoid the loud click it made when it closed. With a yawn, Naruto stepped into the shower and turned it on, standing under the hot spray in a daze.

He had actually done it. There wasn’t any going back now; Sasuke knew his feelings for him…but what did Sasuke feel? They had launched straight into sex without clarifying that; Naruto was a little worried that he had made a big mistake.

The suds from his shampoo swirled towards the drain and ran down his shoulders as Naruto combed his fingers through his hair. He could still feel the sensation of Sasuke pulling his hair in different places. He had to admit that the feeling kind of turned him on, but if Sasuke kept it up he’d be bald in no time.

Naruto frowned. There was no guarantee that there would be a next time. What happened could easily be a one-time thing, but Naruto wasn’t prepared for that. He tried to convince himself that it was possible, and if it happened, there was nothing he could do about it. He confessed to Sasuke, he couldn’t make Sasuke return his feelings.

But Sasuke had to feel _something_.  The touches of color he got whenever Naruto complimented him told him that much and he even returned the kisses Naruto had given him. In Sasuke’s defense, he was wasted the first time they kissed, but Naruto was only looking for possible pieces of evidence. Even though last night Sasuke had barely drunk any beer and still returned his kiss…

_I’m thinking too much._

Naruto sighed and shut off the water. He pushed his hair back and stepped out, wrapping a towel around his waist before leaving the bathroom. Naruto was a fan of walking around the house naked, but he had a feeling that Sasuke wouldn’t be too happy about it.

He walked into the kitchen and poured a glass of water; he took a sip of it as he made his way back into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Wakey-wakey.” Naruto lightly rubbed Sasuke’s back, eliciting a small grumble.

“Go away.”

“Come on, I brought you water.”

Sasuke turned his head to peek at him from the pillows.

“You gotta sit up though.”

Sasuke sighed, but didn’t budge. “I don’t think I could if I tried.”

Naruto felt a stab of guilt and set the glass on the nightstand beside them.

“Just roll on your side then, I’ll prop you up.”

Slowly, but surely, Naruto propped up a couple of pillows and helped Sasuke into a slightly elevated position on his side. With a frown, Sasuke took the water and sipped it.

“Thanks.” He mumbled around the glass.

“Uh-huh!”

They sat in silence for a while. Sasuke kept his eyes on his glass, occasionally sipping from it while Naruto twisted his hand in the sheets, trying to make a pattern. Naruto wouldn’t call the silence awkward; it felt natural and easy, like the calm after a storm.

Sasuke cleared his throat and looked as if he were about to say something, but he quickly shut his mouth and chewed on his lip‒a habit Naruto didn’t know he had.

Naruto could assume what he was going to say.

“Do you want me to help you to the bathroom so you can shower?”

Sasuke furrowed his brows and clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Yeah.” He admitted and set his glass down.

With a chuckle, Naruto helped Sasuke out of bed and tried‒unsuccessfully‒not to stare at his naked body as he stood up.

“I can carry you.” Naruto offered.

“Not while I’m naked you’re not.”

“I can take off my towel and we’ll both be naked?”

“No.”

It took a while for them to make it out of the bedroom; Sasuke’s progress reminded him of a newborn giraffe: wobbly on its legs but determined to get to its destination. Naruto felt a surge of impatience and scooped Sasuke into his arms princess-style, and proceeded to carry him down the hallway.

“Naruto! Put me down!”

“Don’t tell me you’re embarrassed.” Naruto replied, padding down the hallway with a smile. Sasuke grumbled under his breath, but stopped fighting and allowed himself to be carried into the bathroom. “Would you like a nice hot bath? That way you wouldn’t have to stand.”

“Stop babying me.”

Naruto came to a halt once he reached the center of the bathroom and adjusted Sasuke’s weight.

“I can shower with you and hold you up?”

“Put me down and leave.” Sasuke commanded.

“But I wanna shower with you!”

“You’ve already showered!”

“I’d do it again.” Sasuke reached around to pinch Naruto’s forearm.

“Put me down and leave!” Sasuke repeated with a hiss. Naruto sighed and set him down, steadying him by putting his hands on Sasuke’s shoulders. Sasuke nearly booted him out of the bathroom and slammed the door shut on his back, leaving Naruto alone in the hallway.

“So mean.” Naruto muttered. He untied the towel around his waist and made the trek back to his bedroom naked. He tossed the towel onto his bed and picked up a pair of sweatpants to slide into. Weekends called for going commando.

Naruto ducked into his closet and found another pair of sweats, which he tossed over his bare shoulder as he shut the door.

“Sasuke’s naked in my house.” Naruto sang, kicking aside the dirty laundry accumulating on his floor. He dropped his gaze back to his messy bed and smiled before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

“Sasuke I’m leaving pants outside the door!” Naruto knocked on the bathroom door and left the pants in a bundle on the floor. He didn’t expect a reply, nor did he wait for one, he was going to get started on breakfast.

Naruto could admit it…he wasn’t _the best_ at cooking, but he had the basics down. He could crack an egg into a hot pan and put bread in a toaster. Aside from that and pouring cereal and milk into a bowl…that was about it. Sasuke had to make everything complicated and chop up vegetables for an omelet‒Naruto began to wonder if they even had any vegetables, he wasn’t much of a fan of them.

He wasn’t sure if Sasuke preferred his eggs scrambled or over easy, so he guessed and just made a bunch of eggs the way he liked them; nice and gooey in the center.

Just as he was sliding the eggs onto their separate plates, Sasuke walked in wearing his sweatpants (to Naruto’s delight) and approached the counter.

“So you actually can cook.” He observed with a smirk. Naruto noticed that he pushed his hair back when it was wet too; leaving it slick against his head.

“If I try.” Naruto spun on his heel to catch the toast as it popped out of the toaster and dropped them onto their plates. “Can’t guarantee if it’s edible though.”

“Lovely.” Sasuke took his plate over to the table, pausing when he pulled out the chair. Naruto zipped over to the couch to retrieve a pillow and set it on the chair.

“For your sore butt, your Highness.” Naruto smiled slyly and ducked out of Sasuke’s swiping range. He grabbed his plate and sat across from Sasuke and handed him a fork; he watched Sasuke warily in fear that he’d try to stab him with it.

They ate breakfast slowly; the conversation was led mostly by Naruto as he complained about how dirty Sai’s books were getting lately, and how his authors didn’t seem to care about him anymore. Sasuke ate and listened quietly; nodding occasionally and smirking whenever he found something Naruto said amusing.

 

The two spent the majority of the afternoon watching TV; Naruto would toss popcorn at Sasuke whenever he was being ignored until Sasuke confiscated the bucket and flicked Naruto on the forehead.

The door to the apartment opened around four and Sakura stepped in. She had her duffel bag in one arm and her purse in the other, and she managed to drop both when she saw Sasuke sitting on the couch.

Thanks to Sasuke’s wise thinking, he had put on a shirt earlier, as did Naruto, but he still wore Naruto’s sweatpants. Naruto hoped Sakura wouldn’t notice.

“Sasuke?! What are you doing here?!”

“Uh…” Sasuke blinked back at her.

“We’re just hanging out!” Naruto chipped in. “He was gonna help me with some editing stuff later…”

“I thought you two didn’t get along…?” Sakura tilted her head at them and picked up her bags. “Anyway, welcome! I hope this idiot has been treating you well!”

“Decently. For an idiot.” Sasuke replied and gave Naruto a deadly look.

_Leave it to Sakura to come home early._ Naruto sank deeper into the couch in an attempt to hide.

“Sasuke! Will you go grocery shopping with me?” Sakura reappeared at the side of the couch and put her hands together in a pleading gesture.

“What about him?” Sasuke pointed a thumb at Naruto.

“I don’t bring him shopping with me because he just picks up instant ramen. I keep telling him it’s not good for him and that he’ll get fat.” Sakura pouted.

Sasuke groaned quietly, knowing he wouldn’t be able to refuse.

“And when we get back, I’ll cook dinner!”

Sasuke slowly turned to glare at Naruto.

“You’ll pay for this.” He mouthed to him as he stood up. He turned to Sakura with a dazzling smile that only Naruto could see was fake. “Alright Sakura, let’s make this fast.”

“Yay!” she cheered and grabbed Sasuke’s hand, towing him out of the apartment with lighting speed.

Naruto watched them go with an amused expression. He wondered if Sasuke had ever gone in public with sweatpants on, and if not, today was going to be a reality check for him. Sakura was bound to drag him around town, showing him off and claiming that he was her boyfriend; she was going to spend as much time alone with Sasuke as she could.

“If only she knew.” Naruto stretched out and folded his arms behind his head. The two beer cans remained on the coffee table from the night before, and everything was still fresh in Naruto’s memory. “If only she knew.”

                           

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright I believe there’s only one or two chapters left in this story, so I hope you’re all looking forward to the conclusion of this! I will be so proud of whatsinthebasement once she finishes it since it will be the first fanfiction she’ll have completed! (This is a short one compared to the others, so that makes sense, but it’ll be nice to see the completed product in any case) Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and as always, feel free to leave comments.  
> ^^^  
> *Casually passes out in the corner*  
> If I am correct, there are three chapters left, but typical me is too scared to make it official. Anyway Naruto's finally made the move to make that Uchiha ass his, but I wonder what's going through Sasuke's mind?  
> Thanks again for reading and all of your support! It means a lot!  
> (and my editor is too kind to me! She knows if it wasn't for her, none of the chapters would be any good)


	5. Individuals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trouble is brewing when Sasuke begins to avoid Naruto. Naruto worries how Sasuke truly feels about him, and wonders whether to let him go or chase after him.

Monday was one of Konoha’s rainiest days.

  
The downpour started early in the morning, drenching the village in its gloom and flooding the streets before the sun could have a chance to show its face. The town was decorated with various patterned umbrellas and bright raincoats as people rushed to work, forced to make the trek on foot. Naruto had been one of them, pushing his way through the crowds and narrowly avoiding the massive puddles of water that gathered on the corners.

  
It didn’t feel like a good day. The sky was a dirty gray, the rain left Naruto soaked to the bone by the time he got to work, and it was also…Monday.  
“Augh this sucks!” Naruto threw down his suitcase and shrugged out of his raincoat once he reached his desk. Lee nodded in agreement, spinning at an alarming speed in his chair to get his daily leg workout in before Kakashi came.  
“It really puts a damper on the mood huh?” Kiba scratched at his bed-head and yawned. “I got no sleep last night. Akamaru would not sleep through that thunderstorm.”  
“Barked all night?” Lee assumed.  
“Yup. I don’t blame him though.” Kiba shrugged and dropped into his seat. “Thunder’s scary as hell.”  
“I’m surprised the Uchiha isn’t here yet.” Naruto turned in his chair to see Neji standing behind them, his arms crossed stiffly. “He’s normally the first one here.”  
“Maybe the rain’s keeping him back?” Naruto shuffled through his papers, a smidgen of worry beginning to make its appearance.  
“True…” Neji cocked his head a little to the side, causing his long hair to swing across his shoulder. “Or maybe not.”  
“Neji, do you know something or not? I hate it when you do that!” Kiba barked at him from across the room. “You’re sketchy as fuck!”  
Neji rolled his eyes before he looked at Naruto.

  
“I heard Sasuke talking with Kakashi, Obito, and the President in the conference room about something that you’re not going to like.”  
Naruto paused, his finger poised above the power button on his computer.  
“What did you hear?”  
“He’s leaving the company today. Going to work for someone despicable.” Neji made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. “Ever heard of Python Publishing?”  
“OH!” Lee shot out of his chair. “That’s run by that guy named Orocho…Oroch…”  
“Orochimaru.” Kiba growled from his seat. He directed his glare to Neji. “He’s going to work for him? Why?”  
“I don’t know. But Naruto has about five minutes before Sasuke walks out the main doors forever.” Neji gave Naruto a sympathetic glance before he turned to leave. “I have things to do, just thought I’d let you know.”  
“The master of eavesdropping…” Kiba sighed. “Naruto, what are you going to do?”

  
Naruto was already out of his seat.  
Sasuke was leaving? Just like that, without a word to anyone but the superiors? It didn’t make sense! Naruto was just with him the other day, why hadn’t he said anything?  
Naruto took the stairs, checking every floor to see if Sasuke had passed through. He passed Kakashi on the staircase and stopped his quick descent.  
“Kakashi! Where’s Sasuke?!”  
“Ah…” Kakashi paused to measure Naruto’s expression. He must have taken the panicked and determined boy seriously. “He should still be in the lobby.”  
Naruto shouted thanks and flew down the rest of the stairs. As he pushed open the door to the lobby he tried to gauge his emotions. Was he angry? Or was he sad? Maybe upset? He didn’t know. What would he do once he saw Sasuke?  
He didn’t have time to think about it. His eyes locked on the boy once the doors swung open. All of his focus locked onto the back of Sasuke’s head as he made his way towards the front doors.

  
“SASUKE!” Naruto shouted.  
Sasuke froze in place. He slowly turned around as Naruto stormed up to him, his face completely neutral.  
“What are you doing down here? Shouldn’t you be working?” he narrowed his eyes.  
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”  
Sasuke sighed and crossed his arms. “Well you caught me, satisfied?”  
“What the hell Sasuke? Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?!” Naruto tried to find a hint of emotion in Sasuke’s eyes, but he came up short.  
“What I do is none of your business.” Sasuke told him coldly.  
“It is my business! You were just gonna walk out and not say anything?”  
“Exactly.”  
“I don’t get you!” Naruto cried and threw his hands up in exasperation. “One moment I think you’re actually opening up to me and the next you’re shutting me out!”  
Sasuke rolled his eyes. “You’re not that important Naruto. What do you consider ‘opening up’?”  
“Really? What about the other day?”  
Sasuke hardened his gaze and scoffed. “That was nothing special.”  
Naruto tried to bite back his rage and failed. This was the closed off and stubborn Sasuke, not the vulnerable and open one he had seen before. This was the Sasuke he had first met, the one that put up his guard when he was in trouble or faced with strangers. So why was Sasuke acting like this now?  
Naruto’s voice came out quiet and fragile. “I told you that I loved you.”  
“Like I’d believe that.” Sasuke scowled at him and shook his head. “I told you, you’re naïve Naruto!”  
“Then why did you sleep with me Sasuke? Why didn’t you just say you weren’t interested?!” Naruto raised his voice, catching the attention of their secretary Ino. She blushed a deep red and ducked her head back towards her computer.

  
The laugh that came out of Sasuke was sharp, but it was his words that cut into Naruto’s heart.  
“None of that meant anything to me. I only did it because you’re so damn persistent—” Sasuke’s words were cut short when Naruto slapped him with every ounce of strength he could muster. The sound echoed through the empty lobby and hung in the air between them.  
“You’re full of shit Sasuke.” Naruto spat and turned on his heels. He stepped into the open elevator and allowed himself a final look at Sasuke. He remained where he stood, his hand pressed to his cheek in minute shock. As the doors began to close, Naruto watched Sasuke push the lobby doors open and walk out into the rain.  
Naruto punched the buttons to take him down to the lounge on the basement level. He couldn’t go upstairs yet, not now. He wiped his eyes with his wrist, trying to clear his blurry vision as he stepped out and made his way to the bathrooms.

  
Sasuke’s words were stuck on repeat in his head.  
He could try to make himself feel better by telling himself that Sasuke was only saying that to cut their ties, but the words could just as easily be true. Sasuke had never told him his true feelings, and he had even told Naruto that he was used to just having “flings”; he was naïve to believe that it would be anything more.  
Naruto locked himself in one of the stalls and perched himself on the toilet. He dropped his head into his arms and groaned, hoping Sasuke would just vanish from his mind.  
It was always Sasuke this and Sasuke that. He cared so much about someone who didn’t think of him any differently than a nosy coworker. What did he want from Sasuke? A relationship? As if that would’ve happened.

  
“I’m so stupid.” Naruto sniffed.  
He stayed in the bathroom for a while. Time ticked by without him noticing, it was only marked by the occasionally opening and closing of the bathroom door. Naruto wanted nothing more than to just go home, but he couldn’t muster the will to leave his spot.  
The bathroom door swung open again and footsteps approached his stall.  
“Naruto, I know you’re in there.”  
Naruto lifted his head slowly. “Go away Kiba.”  
“You do this every time. You get upset and you lock yourself in the bathroom to wallow in your self-pity and regret.”  
“Shut up.”  
“You choose the same stall every time too.” Kiba sighed. The door rattled on the other side, Naruto assumed Kiba had leaned against it. “I’m guessing Sasuke left huh?”  
Naruto let out a sad whine.  
“I’m taking that as a yes.” Kiba sank to the floor. “What happened?”  
Slowly, Naruto straightened his legs and sat up. He didn’t know how much he should spill about Sasuke to Kiba, but then again, he had nothing left to lose.  
“I slept with him Kiba.”  
Kiba remained silent on the other side of the door.  
“I was afraid you would say that.” He finally said quietly.  
“You joked about banging him all of the time!”  
“I wasn’t serious!”  
“I can’t help the fact that I fell in love with him.”  
Kiba let out a bitter laugh. “You could do so much better.”  
“But I don’t want to.”  
“You keep saying the things I don’t want to hear.” Kiba groaned and the door shook again. “You got me sitting on this dirty ass floor, getting confessions out of you in the men’s fucking bathroom. Again.”  
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”  
“What did he tell you?”  
“That our relationship meant nothing to him.” Naruto said sadly. “Basically.”  
“Ouch.” Kiba muttered. “Why do you love someone so mean?”  
“I don’t think he meant it.”  
“Well.” Kiba wiggled himself under the stall and poked his head up to peer at Naruto. “There’s only one thing left to do, you big baby.”  
Naruto frowned down at him. “What?”  
“We’re going to go spy on that Uchiha.”  
___________________________

Naruto found himself in a predicament.

  
Here he stood, in a dark hoodie and sunglasses with Kiba dressed the same, in front of a building that looked like it belonged in a horror movie. The entire set-up was as suspicious as could be, but Naruto wanted to know what was going on in the Python Publishing building. It wasn’t as tall as their building, and had a completely different vibe to it. It was structured more as a warehouse, with peeling paint that had been weather stained over the years and a black barbed wire fence that ran around the overgrown lawn.  
“This is sketchy as fuck.” Kiba hissed as they approached the door. “Are you sure this is even the building? What if we walk in on a drug deal and get shot?”  
“This is the right building, I checked. Four times.” Naruto muttered. He contemplated whether he should put down his hood as they pushed through the heavy double doors and paused.  
“Ah…” Kiba took off his sunglasses.

  
The lobby was dark; nearly pitch-black in fact. The lobby and halls were lit by candles that hung in chandeliers on the ceiling, giving the building a creepy atmosphere to it.  
“Do they not have to pay a light bill then?” Kiba made a thoughtful face before he smirked at Naruto. “We could save hella money if we told Kakashi to do this.”  
“Shut up Kiba.” Naruto sighed. He took a brief look around, his eyes landing on the main desk. A man with glasses typed away at his computer, paying no attention to him or Kiba.  
“Okay, well we’re here, and we aren’t dead yet.” Kiba slid his hands into his pockets. “So now what?”  
Naruto wondered if the guy at the desk would say anything if they walked right past him. He knew Ino just let whoever came in walk up to their office without a care in the world, maybe this guy was the same?  
“We snoop.” Naruto told him quietly, and led the way down one of the hallways. He watched the man until they passed, but the man said nothing to them. Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief and continued down the wood paneled hallway, the heavy lump in his stomach growing heavier by the minute.  
Was Sasuke here? What if he saw him? Getting caught by him sounded like horrible situation, but Naruto was beginning to believe this entire excursion was a ploy simply to see Sasuke. He didn’t know if he wanted to; Sasuke’s name alone burned on his tongue when spoken, and it left a sick feeling in his stomach, but Naruto couldn’t find the willpower to hate Sasuke again.

  
As they walked through the building, Kiba became surprisingly quiet.  
He kept his head down, ignoring the various pieces of decorations that made Naruto cringe; pictures of snakes and creatures Naruto hoped didn’t actually exist covered every spare inch of wall in the hallway. One of the corners was occupied by a large python statue that rose high above Naruto with its mouth open and fangs bared.  
Naruto assumed every door led to an office, and he didn’t dare open one. An occasional person would walk down the hall, but their eyes didn’t linger long on Naruto; they would flit from him to their intended path, almost as if they never saw him in the first place.  
The people here were strange. Their appearances made Kiba and Naruto feel less suspicious; dark colors and creepy appearances seemed to be the theme of this building.  
Just as Naruto was beginning to give up on his search (he still wasn’t sure what he was looking for), he found himself in the most terrifying corridor he’d ever seen in his life. He came to an abrupt stop and felt Kiba run into his back.

  
“What the hell?” Kiba peeked around Naruto’s shoulder and whimpered.  
The hallway was brighter than the others, flickering flames illuminating the dozens of portraits of a single man. Each picture was different, but the person never changed expression; their mysterious and terrifying snake-like eyes pierced through the painting as if they were real.  
As Naruto neared one of the paintings, he took in the long dark hair and pale skin warily. A plaque sat at the bottom of each painting reading Lord Orochimaru and a specific year.

  
“So that’s the guy huh?” Naruto wasn’t sure why he whispered, but he was getting the impression that this was a sacred area of the building.  
“Dude…this painting is almost forty years old.” Kiba hissed. He took a few more steps to look at the other paintings. “The years go up till now…this guy doesn’t age!”  
“He has to.” Naruto followed Kiba, his eyes roaming each picture carefully. Soon enough, at the end of the hall the portraits reached more recent years and the man in them didn’t change. A cold chill ran down Naruto’s spine at the last picture; in this one he had a large purple snake wrapped around his shoulders while smiling sinisterly.  
“I think it’s time to go.” Naruto said quickly and tugged Kiba along. “Let’s get out of here before we see something we aren’t supposed to.”  
Kiba remained silent as they nearly ran out of the building. They didn’t stop until they reached the parking lot; their getaway was Kiba’s old sedan that worked only fifty percent of the time. Naruto hoped they would be lucky again today.  
Kiba unlocked his door and paused, resting his arm along the roof of the car.  
“Hey, I need to tell you something.”  
Naruto leaned against the trunk and folded his arms.  
“I knew something was up with you. What is it?”  
Kiba turned to look back at the building and let out a loud sigh.  
“I did some research…and I found out why Sasuke left.”  
Naruto perked at his words. “Research?”  
“I heard that he wants to become a writer and write a particular book.” Kiba frowned and dropped his chin onto his hand. “A book about how corrupt his family is… and about the true nature of Uchiha Enterprises.”  
“…meaning…?”  
“He wants to bring his family business crashing to the ground.” Kiba told him. “Can you believe that?”

  
Naruto frowned, his mind automatically going to Itachi. He said that Sasuke was jealous he couldn’t take over the company, but could it have been more than just that?  
“What could they be doing that’s so bad he’d expose them for it?” Naruto asked, mostly to himself as he scowled at the ground. “And why would he go to Python Publishing to do it?”  
“Konoha Publishing would never allow him to write that.” Kiba slid into the driver’s seat and motioned for Naruto to get in. “We’d be screwed if it got out. Can you imagine their suing power?”  
“Yeah, but doesn’t the same go for here?”  
“Python Publishing is so discreet, almost no one knows about it. They release incriminating articles, sketchy books on murder and witchcraft, so it’s expected that something strange came from here. Sasuke doesn’t want to be famous; he just wants to spread the truth in the most efficient way he knows.”  
“His family will hate him.” Naruto could only imagine what would happen to Sasuke if he released something that controversial. He’d be banished, or at least disinherited from the family.  
“I’m sure he’s given it some thought.” Kiba turned the key in the ignition and the engine sputtered back at him. With a growl he did it again, continuously, until the engine finally coughed to life with a puff of smoke.  
Naruto was used to asking, “Is that normal?” and now knew to keep his mouth shut about Kiba’s car as they rumbled out of the parking lot and down the streets back towards downtown Konoha.  
“You need to make a decision man.” Kiba’s serious face almost made Naruto want to laugh. Kiba was never the serious friend. Neji was the practical and stone-faced member of the group while the rest of them were pranksters.  
But Naruto knew Kiba was right. He couldn’t sit around and wallow in his misery. He needed to choose. Did he want to keep chasing after Sasuke, even if that meant painful encounters and insults and a threat to his own self-control and sanity? Or did he want to forget about him and live his usual life, maybe finding someone else along the way, but possibly losing the small chance of being with Sasuke?  
“I…I know.” Naruto said slowly and watched the stoplights turn from yellow to red. “I don’t think I’ll be able to let him go that easily.”  
Kiba nodded at his answer and ran a hand through his wild hair.  
“I’m behind you all the way, but please Naruto,” Kiba lifted his brown eyes to meet Naruto’s, “make a decision that’ll make you happy.”  
Naruto blinked back at him in surprise. “I-I will! Thanks Kiba.”

  
Kiba turned his gaze back to the road and drove the rest of the way home in silence. As often as he’d ridden in the car, Naruto felt something was different. The constant smell of French fry grease still lingered in the air, the passenger window still rattled as they drove, and the glove compartment was still stashed with dirty magazines, but the ride home somehow felt heavier.  
Naruto could only hope it was the lump of grief he was carrying that refused to go away.

_____________________

Naruto waited two weeks before he made his decision.

  
He spent his days doing the usual; working, coming home to watch TV, eating, and sleeping, all on the same schedule every day until he felt like he was going to break. The same question hung heavy in his mind and repeated itself every time it had the chance.

  
What are you going to do?  
Naruto had already made his decision, but he kept asking himself if it was the right one.  
It took him until today to come to terms with his answer.  
He pressed his phone against his ear and listened as the phone tried to connect, his heartbeat filling his ears as he waited.

  
Finally, a painfully familiar voice answered on the other line.  
“Hello?”  
“Hey.” Naruto let out a small breath and braced himself against the counter.  
“Naruto?” Sasuke sounded surprised, as if he didn’t have caller ID. He lowered his voice and put on his usual tone. “What do you want?”  
“I-uh, I just wanted to talk to you.” Naruto admitted and dropped his gaze to the floor, his eyes zeroing in on a clump of dust. “How are you?”  
“I’m fine. Now what do you really want?”  
“I just told you. We all miss you back at the office.”  
“I’m not coming back.”  
Naruto bit the inside of his cheek. Sasuke wasn’t going to give him a break, was he?  
“We’d welcome you with open arms.”  
Sasuke sighed on the other line. “I’m doing better here, and I have no place over there anyway.”  
“But we—”  
“If you called to try and convince me, I’m sorry but you’re wasting your time. If that’s it, I have other things to do.”  
Naruto tried to push back the ache building in his chest as he listened. Did Sasuke feel anything as he listened to him speak? Or was Naruto being a hopeless romantic again?  
“No-no, I…” Naruto took a deep breath to steady his voice. “I didn’t call to talk about work, I wanted to see if, uh…if you wanted to meet up for lunch? So we can talk in person?”  
Naruto hoped Sasuke couldn’t hear the fear in his voice. He knew it was hopeless; he was preparing himself for the solid no.  
“Today?” was Sasuke’s response. “Where do you want me to meet you?”  
Naruto’s brain short-circuited at Sasuke’s answer. He said yes? He said today? Naruto tried to form a coherent sentence in his head, but Sasuke didn’t seem to realize that.  
“I’m waiting Naruto.”  
“U-uh, the uh, can we…” Naruto ground his palm against his forehead and groaned. “You know the café by the train station? Can we meet there?”  
“Yeah. I’ll be there in twenty.” Sasuke hung up before Naruto could respond.  
“Okay…” he said into the empty air. He set his phone down and realized he was shaking; from happiness or nervousness, Naruto didn’t know, but today was the day he got things straight with himself. Today was the day he saw Sasuke again.

 

Naruto power-walked over to the café, and his heart raced a mile a minute every step of the way. He ended up in the café a little earlier than he intended, and his eyes landed on Sasuke as if they were trained to do so. He stood at the front of the line with his eyes on the menu, a hand up against his face in a thoughtful gesture. The cashier watched him closely, and Naruto could nearly picture the heart eyes popping out of her head as she stared him down.

  
He took his place at the back of the line and watched as Sasuke got his order of tea (Naruto noticed that Sasuke never drank coffee) and took a spot by one of the windows. He directed his gaze outside and a piece of Naruto wondered if Sasuke was looking for him.  
Naruto ordered his frappuccino and joined Sasuke with a tight smile.  
“Hey.” Naruto set his coffee down and settled into his seat. Sasuke regarded him with a somewhat wary expression and took a tentative sip of his drink.  
“Hey.” Sasuke said slowly. He searched Naruto’s face for an explanation on why they were meeting and sighed when he couldn’t find one. “Okay, so why’d you call me out? To talk?”  
Naruto nodded and wrapped his hands around his frappuccino as if his life depended on it.  
“How’s Python Publishing?”  
Sasuke stared at him, his mouth slightly open in disbelief. He stood up abruptly and grabbed his drink.  
“Follow me.” He commanded and made his way towards the doors.  
Naruto followed after him in a hurry, his lips forming Sasuke’s name just before he bumped into someone.  
“Watch it Naruto!” Sai frowned at him and steadied the blonde boy.  
“Sai?” Naruto tilted his head in confusion. He then remembered that this was the café he had first met up with Sai, maybe he lived somewhere nearby? “Sorry man, I didn’t see you!”  
“I get that a lot.” Sai muttered, and then his gaze landed on Sasuke. He saw something that made his hand retract from Naruto’s shoulder slowly, a smug smile creeping up on his face. “Wow, lightbulb.”  
“Lightbulb?” Naruto questioned.  
“I gotta go, nice seeing you!” Sai turned on his heels to walk past them back out the door without buying anything. Naruto heard him mumbling something under his breath about a raven.  
“Are you coming?” Sasuke turned to leave without waiting for a reply.  
They both stepped out of the café and made their way down the street. Sasuke walked in silence, his tea up against his mouth as he blew on it to cool.  
“So, why’d you drag us out here?” Naruto asked him as they stood on the corner to cross.  
“I wasn’t going to make small-talk with you in a café.” Sasuke said bluntly.  
“That was the whole point of this meeting!”  
“It’s cliché. You can talk while I walk home.”  
“Fine!” Naruto kicked a rock along the crosswalk and pouted. Sasuke really didn’t change. “I asked you how your work was.”  
“It’s doing well.” Sasuke shrugged. “Not that different from before.”

  
Yeah right. Naruto shook his head. He didn’t know how he was going to get through to Sasuke. ‘I love you’ hadn’t gotten the message through, but Naruto knew Sasuke had a soft spot for him. Over time the bite to his sass no longer applied to Naruto, the look Sasuke gave him was no longer filled with irritation or judgement, but then again Sasuke would deflect any form of affection that came his way. There were things Sasuke showed Naruto that others didn’t know about; Sasuke had to have a weak spot.  
“Can you tell me why you left our company?” Naruto asked him as Sasuke’s apartment came into view.  
“I needed a change in pace, there’s not much to it.” Sasuke brushed off the question without looking at him. “I told you, my goals are different than yours.”  
“How are they different? You told me you wanted to be one of the most influential writers in Konoha!”  
“They just are.” Sasuke pushed through the lobby doors and Naruto followed him in. “You want to be the next Hokage, it’s different.”  
“No it’s not. I don’t get it Sasuke, what do you want to achieve at Python Publishing?”  
“You don’t have to get it.” Sasuke punched the elevator button a little angrily and directed his glare at Naruto. “It doesn’t involve you.”  
“I just want to know, I want to understand you.” Naruto softened his voice and met Sasuke’s eyes. “Why do you keep trying to push me away?”  
“Tch.” Sasuke clicked his tongue and stepped into the elevator, but Naruto was right on his heels. He pushed the dark hair boy into the corner and leaned against the wall, pressuring him into an answer. “I don’t want you to understand me.”  
Naruto searched his face as they rode up to Sasuke’s floor.  
“I told you that I loved you, remember?” Naruto asked just as the doors dinged open.  
“I remember.” Sasuke pushed past him and made his way towards his door. Their footsteps echoed in the empty hallway.  
“I still do you know.”  
“Good for you.”  
“Sasuke, tell me the truth!” Naruto blocked the door and furrowed his brows. Sasuke rolled his eyes at him and blew out a frustrated breath.  
“I already told you‒”  
“Then tell me again.”

  
Sasuke paused, his eyes resting on Naruto’s face. He opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it and averted his gaze.  
“I’m done talking to you Naruto, get out of the way.”  
“Not until you give me an answer.”  
“Move!” Sasuke nudged his way between Naruto and the door just enough to unlock it with his key.

  
Naruto felt like his chance was slipping away. This was his moment of truth, he had to get his answer or else it was over. He couldn’t just let Sasuke leave.  
A brilliant idea flashed through Naruto’s mind and he grabbed Sasuke by the collar. He proceeded to dump the rest of his frappuccino down Sasuke’s shirt.  
“What the hell are you doing?!” Sasuke shouted and jumped back, knocking open the door to his apartment. Naruto pushed him through and closed the door behind him, locking it before he turned back to Sasuke.  
His drink ran down Sasuke’s shirt and pants, leaving a frothy mess on the usually shiny and pristine floor. Sasuke’s face was the epitome of rage, but Naruto wasn’t done.  
“Oh no Sasuke, look at you!” Naruto said mockingly. “You’re a mess; we need to get you cleaned up!”  
“NARUTO‒”  
Naruto dragged Sasuke into the bathroom and shut the door. His heart was racing again.

  
He knew he was taking a huge gamble, but this was his chance to see how Sasuke really felt.  
“This won’t do.” Naruto shook his head and yanked Sasuke’s shirt up and over his head. Sasuke backed up against the wall in confusion; Naruto was moving too quickly for him to process what was going on. “Gotta get rid of these too.” Naruto hummed and unbuckled Sasuke’s pants, tugging them down in a single yank.  
“Naruto what are you‒” Sasuke froze when Naruto closed the distance between them.  
“I spilled my drink all over you! I’m just trying to help.” Naruto smiled innocently, his finger playing with the waistband of Sasuke’s underwear. “Is that okay?”  
Sasuke didn’t have time to respond. Naruto yanked down Sasuke’s underwear and kissed him as quickly as he could before he jumped back to look at him.  
Sasuke only glared at him. He stepped out of his wet pants and kicked them aside with a grunt.  
“Is this your excuse for getting me naked?”  
“No, I’d never do that!” Naruto crossed his arms and raked his eyes over Sasuke’s body. He couldn’t resist the smile that crept up on his face.  
He braced himself when Sasuke stormed up to him. He was ready for a right hook, a knee to the groin, or the pain associated with Sasuke’s cutting words, but he didn’t get any of those. He had closed his eyes in expectation, but when he didn’t feel anything, he peeked an eye open to see Sasuke staring at him. Sasuke’s lip curled up briefly, but then he shook his head.  
“Oh, fuck it.” He muttered and pressed their lips together. He slid his hand behind Naruto’s head and pulled him closer.  
Naruto was speechless. He stood stunned as Sasuke ran his tongue along Naruto’s mouth; he didn’t even know how to respond as Sasuke unbuckled Naruto’s pants with a growl and pushed him against the wall.

  
This was happening.  
“Sasuke wait.” Naruto gasped once his mouth was free. Sasuke’s tongue left a wet trail along his jaw and he moved to suck along the side of Naruto’s throat. “I need to know‒how you feel‒about me!”  
“Shut up.” Sasuke mumbled. He tugged Naruto’s shirt over his head and tossed it aside. He ran his hands along Naruto’s chest until he reached Naruto’s boxers, which he quickly tugged down. Naruto let out a small whine as he watched Sasuke drop down to his knees.  
“Sasuke really!”  
“I think you already know.” Sasuke said quietly and wrapped his hand around Naruto’s dick. He raised an eyebrow before he put it in his mouth.  
Naruto still didn’t feel satisfied from his answer. He waited it out, burying his hands in the silky texture of Sasuke’s hair as he went down on him, watching the boy he loved take him in a little at a time. There wasn’t any hesitation in Sasuke’s movements; it was as if Sasuke were moving on instinct, like he’d done it before.  
Once he felt his breathing picking up, Naruto gave Sasuke a light yank. Sasuke pulled back with a slick pop and ran a tongue over his lips, his face surprisingly patient.  
“Enough of me.” Naruto gestured for Sasuke to follow him. He took a seat on the toilet and held out a hand.  
“You want me to ride you?” Sasuke asked in disbelief.  
“Yeah, I have lube in my back pocket, you can get it….” Naruto trailed off when Sasuke opened his cabinet and popped open his own bottle.  
“Someone’s prepared…” Naruto smiled as he took it from him. Sasuke clicked his tongue and climbed onto his lap, snatching the bottle back.  
“I’ll do it myself.”

  
Naruto watched Sasuke squirt a nice amount into his palm and smeared his fingers in it before reaching around to bring them up to his ass. He slid in both fingers with a slight wince and adjusted his weight on Naruto’s lap, causing the blonde to hiss at the contact. It didn’t take long for Naruto to get impatient; he pulled Sasuke’s hand away and replaced it with his own fingers, thrusting fast and deep as he hungrily watched Sasuke’s expression.  
He jolted under Naruto’s touch, a small moan escaping his lips as he lifted his hips for Naruto to get a better angle. Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto’s neck as Naruto removed his fingers and replaced them with something bigger.  
Naruto didn’t push in as slowly as he did the first time; he pushed in quick and deep, causing a spasm to run through Sasuke as he gasped against his neck. He settled up against Naruto’s stomach and began to rock his hips with a groan. Sasuke’s fingers wove back into Naruto’s hair with a vice-like grip.

  
They rocked together in a steady rhythm, their breaths mingling in the cool air as Sasuke moved. Naruto kept his hands along the boy’s back and hips, guiding his movement as they went, a nice numbing ache building between his legs. Sasuke had reached his point of ecstasy; his face was now a nice shade of pink and his eyes seemed to glow as he looked down into Naruto’s eyes.  
Naruto was timing Sasuke’s orgasm. He watched as the dark haired boy spread his legs a little wider, his breaths getting heavier as he rocked against Naruto. Just as his mouth began to open, Naruto tightened his grip around Sasuke’s dick‒delaying his climax.  
“Tell me how you feel about me.” Naruto gasped against Sasuke’s jawline and gave him a steely gaze. “Or else I won’t let you finish.”  
Sasuke let out a frustrated whine and pulled sharply at Naruto’s hair.  
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He groaned.  
“You have to tell me the truth!”  
“Not now!” Sasuke hissed. Naruto pushed into him again, causing Sasuke to gasp in surprise.  
“Now.”

  
Sasuke chewed on his lip and adjusted his grip on Naruto’s hair. He remained silent for a few excruciating seconds before he lightly bumped their noses together. The display of affection seemed very out of place to Naruto, but when Sasuke smirked down at him, he knew that the guy was being honest. That alone left a hot bubbling sensation coursing through his veins and kept his heart thundering in his chest.  
“The truth is…” Sasuke took a small breath and broke into a dazzling smile, his cheeks still dusted in a fair shade of pink. “I love you, even though you’re an idiot.”  
Naruto smiled back, his desire multiplying as he looked into Sasuke’s eyes.  
“Even though I’m an idiot?”  
“And even though you wear a hideous amount of orange.” Sasuke sighed. “And you don’t brush your hair…”  
“Okay, okay.” Naruto moved to suck along the side of Sasuke’s neck with a hum. “I love you too, you asshole.”  
Sasuke’s laugh resonated through the bathroom, but quickly turned into a shaky moan as Naruto began to move again. He quickly brought Sasuke back to his high; the boy clung against him as if his life depended on it as Naruto pushed deeper into him.

  
Naruto knew this time was different. Naruto knew that his love for Sasuke wasn’t one-sided, that what they were doing would have a positive outcome in the end. Of course, he had always believed that Sasuke harbored feelings for him that he didn’t want to admit‒simply because that was the kind of person he was. What hadn’t changed was the way he held Naruto. Yes, the boy had a killer grip, especially on Naruto’s hair, but it was the grip of someone who didn’t want to (or was too scared to) let go. Sasuke was trusting Naruto, his grip ensuring that Naruto wouldn’t let him go.  
When Sasuke’s hips began to move on their own again, Naruto directed his attention down to give him fast-paced pumps as they both began to reach their climax again.  
Sasuke’s fingers grazed his scalp, but didn’t dig in. The only pain he caused was the slight pull that came with every thrust Naruto gave him, a pain so small it was beginning to add on to the building pleasure.

  
“Naruto, let go.” Sasuke’s usually commanding voice came out as a whimper. Naruto couldn’t stop the smirk from spreading across his face as he watched Sasuke grind against him; it was a view he’d never get used to or get sick of.  
Almost on-command, Naruto let Sasuke go. It was as if his own orgasm took him by surprise, since Sasuke hugged Naruto tight with a loud gasp and contracted around him. Naruto finished quickly and buried his face in Sasuke’s chest, listening to the two of them catch their breath in the suddenly quiet room.  
“…you know, one of your friends yelled at me the other day.” Sasuke was the first to break the silence. He had his chin resting on Naruto’s shoulder as his finger traced circles along the back of his neck.  
Naruto dropped his hands to rest on Sasuke’s thighs. It was shocking how tan he was compared to Sasuke.  
“Which friend?”  
“Kiba.” Sasuke murmured, his voice taking a surprisingly soft tone. “That guy really cares about you, you know? He told me a lot of things…and I’m sorry for what I said to you.”  
“It’s okay.” Naruto planted a kiss on Sasuke’s shoulder. “I forgive you.”  
“You would be better off with him…he’d be a lot nicer to you than I would.”  
Naruto closed his eyes. “I told you, Kiba and I are just friends‒”  
“Are you sure Kiba feels that way?”  
Naruto froze at Sasuke’s words. He had never considered how Kiba felt.

  
He wondered if the strange atmosphere in the car that day had something to do with it.  
Naruto swallowed his words, suddenly feeling somewhat guilty for what he was going to say. The fact was he loved Sasuke, and Kiba knew that, but Naruto not noticing his best friend’s feelings…that was a really shitty thing.  
“Kiba knows that I love you, and that’s the way it is.” Naruto said softly. “I want you.”  
Sasuke pulled back to look Naruto in the eyes. His face was back to its original pale ivory, but as Naruto ran his thumb along Sasuke’s cheek, he left a light shade of pink again.  
“I don’t get you.”  
“Do you want me to explain it again?”  
“Tch.” Sasuke stood up and climbed off of Naruto’s lap. “No…I just…”  
“You just what?”  
Sasuke looked over his shoulder to smirk at him.  
“I just need to learn that you’re a lovesick idiot.”

  
Naruto leaned back against the toilet with a defeated huff. He didn’t know what else he had expected from Sasuke; the thought made him roll his eyes.  
Sasuke took a few steps and Naruto noticed something run down the inside of his thigh. Sasuke paused and touched it in confusion.  
“Oh gross.” He sighed as he realized what it was and threw Naruto a dirty glare. Naruto was expecting something like “clean it up” or “look what you did, dumbass”, but Sasuke simply wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped out of the bathroom without saying where he was going.  
Naruto watched him go in what felt like awe; Sasuke never failed to surprise him. But two could play at that game‒he had to keep Sasuke on his toes too.  
Naruto figured since he was already sitting on the toilet, it would make sense if he took a dump now rather than later, plus it would be nice leaving Sasuke a special gift. He dropped his chin into his hands and stared down at the white tiles as he concentrated.

  
Sasuke returned wearing a pair of boxers and carried a plastic bag. He gathered his clothes in it and stopped to look at Naruto.  
“Are you taking a shit in my toilet?”  
“Isn’t that what toilets are for?”  
“It stinks.” Sasuke wrinkled his nose, but a smile nonetheless appeared on his face. He tied the bag up and set it aside before he changed his tone again. “Look, Naruto…”  
Naruto frowned. Sasuke had his brows furrowed as he stared at him, clearly in deep thought over what he was going to say next. Naruto couldn’t stop himself from running through all the possibilities. I want you to leave, I didn’t mean what I said, you’re an annoyance…  
“You know I’m not coming back to Konoha Publishing, right?”  
“I figured as much.” Naruto shrugged. “You don’t have to. I’ll still love you no matter what, even if you want to write that book of yours.”  
Sasuke crossed his arms. “You know about the book?”  
“Kiba told me.” Naruto nodded. Sasuke opened his mouth to respond when a singular, loud splash made him scowl. “You couldn’t expect to have a serious conversation while I’m taking a shit, could you?” Naruto snickered at his reaction.  
Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, his face without a hint of a smile. He wasn’t done.  
“Well, I still have a serious question to ask you.”

  
Naruto watched Sasuke fidget under his stare. Sasuke looked like he was having an internal debate, whether or not he should say what he wanted to say, and Naruto would’ve called it cute if he wasn’t the one left hanging in suspense.  
“Ask away.” Naruto said slowly, trying to prod Sasuke in the direction he was trying to go. “You can ask me anything.”  
Sasuke blew out a breath. “Would you…would you want to move in with me?”  
Naruto’s mouth dropped open in shock.

  
He wants me to live with him? Just the two of us?  
It sounded like a dream.

  
Naruto slapped his cheeks hard, checking to see if he was in fact awake and not making things up.  
“This place has three bedrooms, so you can have your own and it’s ridiculously big, but I know you live with Sakura…” Sasuke was rambling now; possibly nervous from the lack of response he was getting out of his blonde companion.  
“Sasuke.”  
“But I don’t want Sakura here, the invitation only extends to you and I’d understand if you didn’t want to‒”  
“Sasuke!”  
Sasuke closed his mouth and frowned. Naruto beckoned him closer, and with a slight grimace, Sasuke approached him to let Naruto wrap his arms around his waist.  
“I want to move in with you.” Naruto smiled up at him. “But I don’t care about the other bedrooms because I’ll be sleeping with you.”  
Sasuke averted his gaze, but Naruto could see the hint of a smile on his face.  
“Once you have me, you can’t get rid of me.” Naruto warned him. Sasuke rolled his eyes again and pinched his nose.  
“I don’t care.” His voice came out nasally. He gave Naruto a light pat on the head and backed away from his embrace. “Your shit really stinks, so I’m leaving now.”  
“Love you too!” he called after Sasuke as he left the room.  
Naruto couldn’t get rid of the smile on his face. His happiness was beginning to consume everything, his earlier sadness, his stress, even his anger. It was swallowed up by the truth that Sasuke loved him. He actually loved him. Somehow he had managed to wiggle his way into Sasuke’s heart, and it felt like one of the biggest accomplishments of his life.

  
He could remember back when he first saw Sasuke at the club with Kiba and Sakura. He had nothing but hatred towards him back then; who could have known this was where they would end up. Naruto’s hatred quickly turned to love once he got in Sasuke’s orbit, despite the fact that Sasuke had been so mean.  
Naruto wondered if he was a masochist. It wouldn’t be surprising; he’d lived with Sakura for almost four years and hadn’t even thought about moving out of the apartment until now. He took her abuse as a sign of their friendship, and Sasuke’s as a sign of love.  
But Naruto was okay with that. He loved them both, but now he was finally realizing that he didn’t love Sakura in the way he thought he did; his childhood crush ended the moment he realized how he felt about Sasuke.

  
Naruto was going to move in with him. He could just imagine waking up next to Sasuke every day and eating meals together, the thought made him so excited he wanted to scream out the window about how in-love he really was. But Sasuke would probably kill him if he did that.  
“Oh no.” Naruto ended up blurting aloud. With him moving in with Sasuke, Sakura would have to find a new roommate. “Sakura’s going to murder me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right readers, there are only two chapters left in this story! Wow I just realized we started this one in June of last year…time sure flies by. Chapter 6 should be edited pretty quickly, so look forward to that soon. I’ll be going back to college soon so chapter updates probably won’t be as frequent as they have been recently, so I apologize in advance for that! As always, we love to read your comments, so feel free to leave some, and we’ll see you all next chapter!  
> ^^^  
> So I was pretty hesitant in the last scene where Sasuke and Naruto are talking in the bathroom because of how my editor felt about it, but I thought it was too funny to alter. In my past experiences, I've had many a conversation with my friends peeing/doin the #2 and could never take them seriously, which kind of prompted this scene...but anyway, please let me know what you think of it or if I'm just stupid and should change it a little! Thanks for reading guys!


	6. Lovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite rough moments, Naruto loves living with Sasuke, but he feels as if he still isn’t important enough. But Sasuke is trying in his own way, right?

Naruto didn’t know life could be so good.

Every day he woke up in the same bed, holding Sasuke against his chest as the sun filtered through the blinds. Despite the annoying blare of the alarm clock, Naruto still loved waking up; it was a constant reminder that he wasn’t dreaming. He was living with Sasuke. And that made him the happiest he’d ever been.

In the mornings they’d collide in the kitchen, scrambling to eat something before rushing off to work. Sasuke worked with Naruto again; he’d dropped his affiliation with Orochimaru and decided on a whim to return to Konoha Publishing. Naruto knew Sasuke wasn’t doing it to pursue his personal goal any longer, but instead as something to pass the time. As Naruto expected, the office had welcomed Sasuke back with open arms, treating him as if nothing had ever happened. Naruto had to admit it was nice, glancing over every so often to see the man he loved typing away at his computer or scowling down at the work load he had for the day; it kept him rooted to reality—Sasuke was his.

Naruto couldn’t help but think of Kiba. He treated Naruto the same as always, yet Naruto still had this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that refused to go away. He was too scared to ask the question straight-forwardly; instead he asked around.

 

 

“Hey Neji.” Naruto stepped into the copy room and shut the door behind him. Neji glanced over his shoulder as he shuffled through a pile of papers at the counter.

“What’s up Naruto?”

“I uh…” Naruto settled against the wall and fidgeted with his shirt. “Do you know if Kiba…ever had a crush on me?”

Neji continued to shuffle through his work and tapped on the machine beside him. He kept his back to Naruto and worked in silence; the only sound that filled the room was the copier printing.

“Does it matter?” Neji finally replied; his voice cold. “You’re in love with Sasuke.”

“…Are you mad at me?”

Neji threw down his papers with an annoyed huff before turning to look Naruto in the eye.

“I’m just a little disappointed.” Neji said. “I always knew you were dense, but I didn’t think you were _this_ dense. It’s always Sasuke this, Sasuke that. I’m not blaming you for not knowing Kiba’s feelings, but dragging him into this…”

“I didn’t drag Kiba into anything! He told me he wanted to help!”

“Because he likes you.”

“But I didn’t know!” Naruto threw up his hands in exasperation. “And I feel like a shitty person for that! I just had to know for sure…”

“Well now you know.” Neji turned back to his work, thus signaling the end to their conversation. And that was it. Just like that, Neji shut Naruto off as if he’d committed some heinous crime rather than making a simple mistake. Naruto felt bad about Kiba, he truly did, but it didn’t change his love for Sasuke. It did feel like his world had become Sasuke this and Sasuke that, that was something he would have to work on. Naruto left the copy room and made his way out of the building. He was off for the rest of the day, and he figured he might as well try to sort out his mind while he had time alone.

He ended up staying out until the early evening; wandering through the commercial districts and parks simply looking rather than thinking. He was at constant war with the idea of talking to Kiba about the issue, yet he had come to the conclusion that speaking about it would only make matters more painful. Naruto returned to the apartment in a gloom, but that was quickly dissipated by the scent of food cooking in the kitchen. Naruto kicked off his shoes and rounded the corner to see Sasuke idly stirring a pot on the stove with his eyes trained on the iPad resting on the counter beside him. He looked over to watch Naruto approach him.

“Where have you been?” Sasuke failed to sound truly curious, but Naruto figured he was asking to be polite.

“Took a walk.” Naruto opened the fridge to retrieve a bottle of water. He situated himself in the corner, out of Sasuke’s range. The last time he tried to hug Sasuke while he was cooking he ended up getting a hot spoon to the face.

“Long ass walk.” Sasuke muttered with a roll of his eyes.

“What did you do today?”

Sasuke stopped stirring and peered into the pot to check on it. Clearly satisfied, he put the spoon down and turned to give Naruto his full attention.

“I talked with Itachi today.”

Naruto widened his eyes.

Sasuke’s hatred towards his brother stemmed from the Uchiha family business. With such a corrupt system that used and robbed nearly every member who became a part of it, Sasuke saw through the crisis right away. That was what made him want to take over, to change the course of Uchiha history, yet his father denied him and gave the job to Itachi. Being the loyal son, he led the business in the direction their father wanted…until recently. Just like that, Itachi shut the business down, reporting all cases of fraud the business had undergone and handing over files to the police like candy. Naruto hadn’t heard from Itachi since then, but he knew the man had somehow gotten out of the mishap scratch-free. In a way, it worked out for the best; Sasuke didn’t have to write the book and the Uchihas were no longer controlling the city. Naruto always wondered why Sasuke would want to shine such a negative light on his family, but it appeared that Sasuke cared more about his morals.

“I’d rather have no family at all than a no good one.” He’d said. It seemed Itachi felt the same way; his brother’s words had finally reached him. At least, that’s what Naruto thought.

“I’m glad you two are talking again.” Naruto hopped up to sit on the edge of the counter.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at him. “You begged me to go talk to him, so I did it to shut you up.”

“What did you guys talk about?”

“Mostly trivial things. I told him that you’re living here and he found out about those guys from last time…”

“In the alley?”

Sasuke nodded stiffly. He picked up the iPad and began to scroll through it.

“I’d rather he didn’t know.” He sighed. “He sent out a hunting party for them.”

Naruto chuckled. “That’s what they get.”

Sasuke met his gaze, his own expression unreadable before he looked back to the iPad. He shrugged without saying anything.

“I’ve always wondered…why were you going into that part of town in the first place?” Naruto set down his bottle and furrowed his brows. “An Uchiha walking down there just attracts trouble.”

Sasuke blew out a huff without looking up. “You try to act like you know everything.”

“No, that’s you remember?”

“I was going to see who Orochimaru was. He kept contacting me and I kept ignoring him until I finally decided to see what he was all about…but I guess I wasn’t thinking clearly at the time.”

Naruto’s mind went back to Orochimaru’s office. It was one of the most terrifying places he’d ever been to, he couldn’t imagine working there. Walking there was scary enough; Naruto didn’t want to know what would’ve happened to Sasuke if Naruto didn’t follow him that night.

“Just promise me that you’ll never go down there again.” Naruto put on his strict tone and slid off the counter. He warily approached Sasuke as he turned to give Naruto a deadly look.

“I think I can make my own decisions.”

“Sasuke.” Naruto softened his tone. “Please just promise me.”

“Fine. But how do you know so much about the slums?”

“I’ve lived here my whole life, you see things.”

Sasuke scowled at him. “I’ve lived here my entire life too, idiot.”

“Forget it. What are you cooking? I thought you wanted to order out tonight.” Naruto leaned around Sasuke to peer into the pot. A beautiful harmony of spices rose from the thick red soup and it made Naruto’s stomach growl in anticipation.

“Curry. I wanted to order out but Sakura called asking for us to come over for dinner.”

Naruto’s stomach dropped. “Don’t tell me you invited her over instead.”

“Hell no! Did you forget she’s rooming with Karin now?” Sasuke put down the iPad and shook his head in exasperation. “I got annoyed and the next thing I knew I was cooking.”

“So you stress-cooked?”

“Basically.” Sasuke frowned when Naruto cradled his face. He stared at Naruto in mild annoyance as Naruto used his thumb to try and smooth the crease between Sasuke’s eyebrows.

“You’ll get wrinkles scowling like that all the time.” Naruto murmured.

Sasuke squirmed under his touch, anxious to get away. Naruto noticed that Sasuke still wasn’t a fan of being touched all that often; it would take him awhile to get used to Naruto’s displays of affection. It wasn’t enough to make Naruto nervous, he understood that this was a big change for Sasuke, and they had only been living together for a couple of weeks now…he didn’t want to push things and make Sasuke uncomfortable. But he loved Sasuke, and sometimes his hands just wandered to him without thinking about it.

“Let go of me and eat you idiot.” Sasuke pried Naruto’s hands away and shoved a bowl in his hands instead. With a sigh, Naruto obeyed and scooped the deadly red curry into his bowl and retreated to the dining table. Sasuke joined him shortly after.

“How’s your story coming along by the way?” Sasuke asked suddenly.

“Hm?” Naruto’s head snapped up in surprise, he could feel the curry sauce running down his chin. He wiped at it and swallowed before responding.

“It’s going okay I guess. I thought about scrapping it, but I feel like I might be on to something so I’m not throwing it away yet…why?”

“Just wondering.” Sasuke murmured. He fell quiet for the rest of dinner and ended up leaving half of his bowl unfinished.

 

 

 

Naruto would be lying if he said Sasuke’s stiffness didn’t bother him. Yes, he knew Sasuke didn’t like being touched. But it wasn’t just that. He acted the same as they had before they started dating; aside from sex and Sasuke being a little nicer, not much had changed. Sasuke still sassed him, when he was mad Naruto got the silent treatment, it was all the same. Naruto didn’t mind because he loved everything about him, and having him suddenly change seemed both unrealistic and undesirable. He didn’t know what he wanted from Sasuke. Did he want him to be more open? To accept his affection in public? He didn’t know.

 

Naruto frowned as he shuffled along behind Sasuke down the grocery aisle. He had insisted on coming to the store with Sasuke for the sake of buying ramen, but now he wanted nothing more than to go home. Sasuke took too long with shopping; he’d actually search the ingredients and nutrition facts before putting things into the cart.

Naruto picked up a gallon of juice and set it inside the cart. Sasuke clicked his tongue and picked it up, flipping it over to read the label.

“Put it back.” Sasuke ordered.

“Why, I want juice!”

“Not that one, go find a better one.” Sasuke went back to studying a can of tomatoes.

“What’s wrong with this one?”

“It’s all artificial, it’s not even real juice.” Sasuke told him. “Now get a better one.”

_So bossy._

Naruto grumbled to himself and returned the juice to where he found it. It looked like this was just one of the many chores he would have to get used to doing with Sasuke. The guy refused to buy anything unhealthy, as if he’d never eaten something bad his entire life. He wouldn’t buy candy, he wouldn’t buy chips, and Naruto had to beg him to let him buy his ramen. Naruto was willing to start eating healthy, but he would never give up on his ramen. At least that was something Sasuke understood.

Sasuke dragged Naruto up and down the aisles, ordering him to find specific things he was looking for and yelling at him when he found the wrong ones. Naruto was already annoyed, so his sass kicked in as they navigated the store.

“Naruto can’t you read? I told you organic oatmeal this is fucking instant oats!”

“What’s the fucking difference? Oats are oats!” Naruto snapped back. He waved the box in the air and pointed at the label. “See? All natural oats!”

“You can say that after I beat you with that box.” Sasuke shook his head as he pulled the cart ahead.

“Why are you being so snippy today Sasuke, I don’t get it!”

“I’m not snippy.”

“You’re always snippy! Today you’re especially snippy!”

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair and groaned. “It’s because you’re so annoying.”

“Oh, that’s classic.” Naruto growled. “You know what?”

Naruto swiped his hands across the shelves, knocking boxes of cookies and candy into the cart.

“I want cookies! And I want candy too! Do you have a problem with that?”

Sasuke glared at the cart before directing his glare at Naruto.

“Oh grow up Naruto.” It looked like Sasuke was pretty fed up with him; he picked up a bag of candy and smacked Naruto in the chest with it. “You don’t even eat candy! Stop fucking around—”

“Sasuke?”

An unfamiliar voice pulled the two out of their confrontation and back into reality. Here they were, standing in the middle of the aisle fighting and dropping the f-bomb louder than appropriate for the young families passing through, as if they were alone at home.

They turned to see two men walking towards them. One was large in stature and sported an auburn crew cut while the other guy looked a little more familiar with white hair and a cocky smile.

“Suigetsu and…” Sasuke’s voice dropped at the sight of the bigger man. “…Jugo.”

“Yo Sasuke what’s up man? Causing havoc in the grocery store again?” Suigetsu waved at Naruto with a look of pity. “I feel sorry for you man, this guy has a crazy diet.”

Naruto didn’t laugh. His eyes were trained on Sasuke and Jugo; they stared at each other in what looked like a mixture of annoyance and indifference, neither of them speaking to one another.

“What are you doing here Suigetsu?” Sasuke directed his glare at him.

Suigetsu threw up his hands in defense. “Chill Sasuke it’s a free country and we have to buy food too.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes before tilting his head at Naruto.

“Let’s go Naruto.” Sasuke didn’t wait for a response. He turned and made his way down the aisle, pulling the cart with him and leaving Naruto behind.

Naruto glanced back at the two men with a torn look before following Sasuke. He felt bad for them; Sasuke had treated them so coldly when he thought Suigetsu was Sasuke’s closest friend. He didn’t know who the other guy was; did Sasuke call him Jugo?

The whole situation seemed to piss Sasuke off even more. Naruto didn’t speak in order to avoid Sasuke’s wrath; that was something Naruto did not want. They checked out in silence and made the trek back home without speaking. The silence was nice; Naruto was using it to clear his head as they walked, while Sasuke glared at the sidewalk as if he wanted to set it on fire.

Naruto didn’t risk talking until after they had gotten home and put away the groceries. He thought that would have been enough time for Sasuke to cool off, but as usual, Naruto was wrong.

“Who was that guy with Suigetsu?” he asked warily from his spot in the living room. From there he could see Sasuke gathering plastic bags to put away.

“He doesn’t matter.”

“It didn’t look like you two liked each other very much.”

“Good intuition. Do you want a medal?”

“Sasuke—”

“Just drop it Naruto!” Sasuke snapped back.

Naruto bit back his response when his phone began to buzz in his pocket. He checked the contact info and internally groaned. _Of all the possible timing…_

“What’s up Sai?” Naruto turned his back to Sasuke. He wasn’t sure if they were having a serious fight or not; it felt like they’d been yelling at each other since the moment they met, yet now Naruto was feeling particularly irked about the whole situation.

“I finished a draft for my new series.” He replied in his soft voice.

“Oh good for you man, I’ll check it out as soon as I get the—”

“I need you to meet me in the café right now so I can give it to you.”

“Right now?” Naruto glanced over his shoulder in time to see Sasuke storm past him and into the hallway. “It’s not really a good time…”

“I need to give it to you now.” Sai stressed. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and sighed. It looked as if he didn’t have a choice.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Naruto told him before hanging up. He slid his shoes back on and called out from his spot, “Sasuke I’ll be back in twenty minutes!”

He didn’t expect a response, nor did he get one.

As Naruto made his way towards the café he couldn’t help but wonder if he and Sasuke would keep fighting like this.  Naruto hated it, but he was also used to it; he and Sasuke were two different people and sometimes they didn’t agree. But it was another thing to worry about. What if they spent all of their time arguing like this?

The last thing he wanted to deal with on a Saturday was work, but for some reason, Naruto couldn’t say no to Sai.

He found the man in the corner of the café and joined him at the table, trying his best to put on an authentic smile.

“How’re you doing Sai?”

“Probably better than you.” Sai said simply before handing over the packet. “Tell me what you think.”

Naruto forced down the urge to roll his eyes as he took the packet from him. He weighed it in his hands before sliding out the contents and flipping through; as he read, he started noticing something about the story. This one was a graphic novel—an erotic one at that, and it seemed to center on two men who had recently decided to live together. Naruto checked the title: The Fox’s Raven.

“Sai…” Naruto continued to flip through the pages, gradually realizing what it was. “These two characters look oddly familiar…”

“Do they?” Sai mused before he took a sip of his tea. “That’s interesting.”

“May I ask why you named me the Fox and Sasuke the Raven?” Naruto slid the papers back into their envelope without looking through the rest. “And why your next work is on us?”

“I did some research on you two and used it as the basis to make the ideal characters.” Sai shrugged. “I took the animals that fit you the best and used them, and really? You two are perfect for my next story!”

Naruto sighed. He realized he’d been doing that a lot. The truth was, he was too tired to care; the characters in the story weren’t obviously him and Sasuke, it was only small hints that could barely be proven. He didn’t know what to think of Sai’s consideration of their animal equivalents, but honestly he wouldn’t dream about pushing away the idea right now.

“We’ll see how far this takes us.” Naruto gave him another smile as he stood up to go.

“I’m glad you approve.” Sai waved goodbye from his spot and Naruto kept the packet close to his chest as he stepped out of the café and made his trek back home.

 

 

He returned to a quiet house; Naruto was convinced Sasuke had left and gone somewhere, but when he walked into the bedroom, Sasuke sat in the center of the bed, scrolling through his phone with his usual bored expression. He didn’t glance up when Naruto entered the room and leaned against the doorframe.

“I’m back.”

“Nn.” Sasuke hummed.

“Sai came up with another stupid story.”

“Cool.”

“Are you gonna talk to me tonight?”

“Dunno.” Sasuke shrugged.

Naruto bit the inside of his cheek. If Sasuke was going to keep giving him one worded answers, Naruto didn’t know how he was supposed to get through to him.

“Can you answer in more than one word?”

“Yeah.”

Naruto shook his head and ground a palm against his eye. He gave up. He tossed the packet onto the dresser and weighed his options on what to do about Sasuke’s attitude.

He crawled on the bed and positioned himself behind Sasuke. The dark haired boy didn’t move when Naruto wrapped his arms around him to bury his face in Sasuke’s back.

As angry as Sasuke made him, Naruto couldn’t hate him. He’d spent such a long time trying to convince himself that he did…but that was no longer possible. Maybe Sasuke didn’t feel the same way, but that was fine. As long as he could still be near him, that was fine.

“He’s an old classmate.” Sasuke’s voice was so quiet, Naruto was almost sure he had never spoken.

“What happened between you two?”

Sasuke shifted in Naruto’s hold. “We used to hang out in high school…Suigetsu introduced us and the guy would just hit on me every time I was around him.”

“And?”

“Sometimes…we’d mess around when we were bored, but we never had sex—”

Naruto’s head snapped up in surprise.

“For real?”

“I was bored with school and bored with girls!”

“How old were you?”

“…eighteen, but it was a stupid relationship, I mean we didn’t even like each other. We just messed around to pass time.”

“Uh huh.” Naruto buried his head back between Sasuke’s shoulder blades. _He was already bored with girls at eighteen…how popular was this guy?!_

Sasuke took Naruto’s tone differently. “I’m telling you the truth!”

“No I believe you. Did you guys sneak out of classes to be together?”

“Sometimes.”

Naruto squeezed him tighter. Sasuke sighed in response, leaning slightly back into Naruto’s embrace.

“I don’t have any stupid crazy stories like you’re thinking.”

“There’s gotta be at least one!”

“Once I missed a math test because he was blowing me in the second floor bathroom.” Sasuke offered with a slight shrug. “Other times we just skipped for no reason.”

“Such a bad kid.” Naruto mumbled. He couldn’t stop himself from laughing when something dawned on him.

“What?”

“I was just thinking…that’s why you were so good at sucking dick—ow!”

Sasuke slapped him from over his shoulder, nailing him in the forehead.

“Shut up Naruto!”

“Not so rough Sasuke…I’m trying to cuddle.”

“Well I don’t want to.”

“Love me!”

Sasuke turned his head with a huff and crossed his arms. Naruto pulled Sasuke closer into him, wrapping his arms around the boy’s stomach as Naruto rested his chin on Sasuke’s shoulder. After a few moments, Sasuke gave in and leaned back onto Naruto’s chest with a defeated sigh. They sat like that for a while in silence, Sasuke scrolled through his phone while Naruto brushed his nose along the back of Sasuke’s neck, inhaling his scent. He never dreamed of being able to hold Sasuke in his arms like this…and Sasuke was letting him do it.

Naruto was beginning to doze off when Sasuke’s hands began to ghost over Naruto’s, pulling them away from his torso and into his lap. Naruto focused on the feeling of cool fingers tracing lines and patterns on his palm.

“You know…” Sasuke began, “you always tell me to talk about my past, but you don’t even talk about your own.”

Naruto frowned into Sasuke’s back. He thought that he had been talking about himself more lately, but it was also the case that there wasn’t enough opportunities or time to do so. Naruto couldn’t think of a proper response, so he just exhaled into Sasuke’s shirt.

Sasuke’s fingers now traced over Naruto’s knuckles. Years’ worth of scars and bruises had accumulated there for the world to see if it looked hard enough.

“You call me a bad kid…what the hell were you doing?” Sasuke asked softly as threaded Naruto’s hands with his own.

Naruto lifted his head. He wished he could see Sasuke’s expression, but all he could do was look over Sasuke’s shoulder to stare at their hands; that familiar creamy ivory next to tan beige, intertwined in Sasuke’s lap. He watched their hands mingle together as he tried to piece together his past into a cohesive storyline to share. He didn’t know where to begin.

“I was a really bad kid.” Naruto stated. He flipped their hands over so his hands could hold Sasuke’s instead. “I started acting out at an early age because I wanted attention. It was just pulling pranks and messing with the townspeople at the time though.”

“Nn.” Sasuke murmured.

“But when I was twelve or thirteen, it really started to bother me when I saw kids with their parents. I mean, it always hurt when I’d see people leaving school with their parents, but for some reason it hit me hardest later. I had my godfather and he’s a great guy, but I couldn’t stop thinking, ‘how come everyone has parents when mine are dead and I’m stuck with this old pervert?’” Naruto couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “And I guess those feelings just built up, and the next time a kid said something to me that I didn’t like, I hit him right in the jaw. Instead of thinking ‘ow that hurt’, I thought about how much better I felt after hitting him. I thought that fighting was the perfect outlet for my anger. Can you guess what happened next?”

Naruto balled his hands into fists for Sasuke to cradle them.

“You started fighting.” Sasuke murmured.

“Street fighting, fighting at school, I did it all. I’d hang out with the people in the slums who liked to fight for money. I joined them and basically they placed bets on me to see if I could fight other guys who wanted the cash as badly as I did.” Naruto felt a prick in his side as he spoke, one of the many reminders of his fighting days. “I didn’t care who I fought, I only cared if I won, and I did. I didn’t even need the money, but I did it anyway. They started calling me all sorts of shit names like Orange Bullet or Blonde Hurricane…the one I got called the most was Fox Boy.” Naruto’s mind went straight to Sai. Somehow he’d manage to call him by the same animal, was it just a coincidence?

“Fox Boy? Why?”

“I’m not sure…I think because foxes are sneaky? I’m sure they had a reason. But I made a lot of enemies fighting and one day Jiraiya dragged me out to one of the bars he frequented to do research for his books, and someone recognized me there.”

Sasuke remained silent as he listened, his eyes trained on Naruto’s hands.

“I got sucker punched in the middle of the bar, I snapped and started beating the shit out of the guy, and then the whole thing turned into a bar fight. Jiraiya broke it up pretty easily, but after that I was in a lot of trouble; I had known for a while that I was destroying his trust, but that day I knew I had fucked up.”

“And then what happened?” Sasuke asked impatiently.

“I got put on house arrest, focused on school, and Jiraiya made me start reading in my free time. He gave me the books my father wrote and I thought the whole idea was stupid, but in a weird way, when I started reading them, I felt closer to the man I had never met. So I kept reading and reading, and decided that maybe I could write something as amazing as his books. If I could make the man who raised me and the parents who got me here proud and a little less embarrassed of their son, I’d feel a little better about myself. So here I am.”

Sasuke slowly turned around to look Naruto in the face. Naruto didn’t know what Sasuke was seeing; his expression was neutral as he measured Naruto’s gaze. He seemed to be internally debating something in his mind, and the longer he hesitated, the more curious Naruto got. After what felt like forever, Sasuke turned around fully to sit on his knees and pulled Naruto into a hug.

Naruto was shocked.

It was a form of affection he wasn’t expecting, but nonetheless here he was, being held by Sasuke. And Sasuke held him _tightly_.

He melted into Sasuke’s embrace, wrapping his arms around him and letting out another heavy sigh that sounded sadder than he expected it to.

His love for Sasuke was starting to scare him.

He had never loved someone this much in his life; it was as if his lifeline had fused with Sasuke’s, and the scary part was Naruto’s small inkling of doubt. What if Sasuke didn’t love him nearly as much as Naruto loved him? Yeah they moved in together and yeah they were happy. They fought but they also got along better than they had in the past. But did Sasuke need Naruto as much as Naruto needed him?

“I’m sorry…” Sasuke mumbled something else quietly under his breath.

“What are you sorry about?”

“I’m not like you…I can’t just display my emotions or return them as easily as you can. I know that upsets you so I’m trying to work on it. I want to do that for you…but you need to know…”

Naruto waited patiently as Sasuke cleared his throat and pulled Naruto tighter.

“It doesn’t mean that I don’t love you.”

The words made Naruto squeeze Sasuke back as hard as he could, trying to choke back a sob. He hoped Sasuke couldn’t feel the tears soaking into the collar of his shirt, but even if he did, it didn’t matter. Naruto may not ever get the proof he desired, whether Sasuke truly needed him to the extent he did or not, but for Sasuke to tell him this…this was enough.

“I love you Sasuke.”

“I know.”

“Sasuke?”

“What?”

Naruto pulled back to look Sasuke in the eye. He could feel the emotion rolling off of him in waves; when he spoke, his voice was thick.

“I want to make love to you.”

Sasuke stared at him blank-faced, his eyes wide in confusion.

“You what?”

“I want to—”

“No I heard you.” Sasuke shook his head incredulously. “But we had sex just the other day, what do you want from me?”

“Yeah we’ve had sex, but I want to have _real_ sex.”

Sasuke groaned, tilting his head towards the ceiling.

“ _What do you mean_?”

“Loving sex Sasuke!”

“I don’t know what that fucking means!”

Naruto fell back on the bed, bringing Sasuke down with him, and held Sasuke on his chest. The boy’s weight barely bothered him as they lay there; Sasuke propped himself up on his elbows to glare down at him.

“You don’t have to understand what I mean. You’ll know when it happens.”

A shudder ran through Sasuke’s body and he made a sour face.

“You sound freaky as hell.”

“Good.”

Sasuke blew out a frustrated breath before collapsing on Naruto. “You’re so annoying.”

“I know.” Naruto murmured as his hands began to roam through Sasuke’s silky straight hair. He closed his eyes at the sensation and let Naruto massage his scalp in comfortable silence. Naruto shifted under Sasuke, several times throughout their cuddling session, until Sasuke looked at him in annoyance.

“Would you cut it out?”

“Sorry but you’re giving off a lot of heat and most of your weight is on my crotch…”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Sasuke huffed. He pressed his lips to Naruto’s with a hint of a smile, his hands moving to roam through Naruto’s hair.

“Mm.” Naruto purred in response.

Sasuke moved to straddle Naruto and slowly sat up to look at him with heavy lidded eyes; Naruto found it extremely seductive.

“Why don’t you show me this ‘loving sex’ you’re talking about?” He raised an eyebrow at him and proceeded to take off his shirt.

“Okay, but you gotta let me take charge tonight.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. As Naruto sat up, Sasuke impatiently ground against Naruto’s hips, prompting a hiss from him. Naruto shrugged out of his shirt and pulled Sasuke close again, planting kisses up and along Sasuke’s throat. Sasuke tilted his neck back, granting him access underneath his jaw as Naruto made his way along his collarbones. His hands moved smoothly along Sasuke’s sides, guiding Sasuke closer until he began to rock Sasuke on his lap.

Sasuke let out a quiet moan as he got the friction he was craving; despite being hindered by their layer of pants. The longer he rocked him, the more impatient Sasuke got, squirming against him as his breathing began to pick up. When Naruto unzipped Sasuke’s pants they were both already panting; Sasuke’s face was flushed and Naruto lightly pushed him on his back to pull off his pants and underwear. Naruto shrugged out of his and grabbed the bottle of lube before crawling between Sasuke’s legs.

He wrapped his arms around Sasuke again and pulled him into another deep kiss. Their tongues mingled together in a mixture of heat and saliva, and it didn’t take long for Sasuke’s fingers to intertwine their way back into Naruto’s hair.

Naruto entered Sasuke without resistance, and Naruto rocked them again at his slow and steady rhythm.

“Harder.” Sasuke moaned. His grip grew tighter on Naruto’s roots as Naruto sped up his thrusts, earning the sounds he wanted from the boy underneath him. Naruto kept the pace, focusing on dragging out Sasuke’s pleasure for as long as he could.

When Sasuke realized what he was doing, he groaned in frustration.

“Be patient.” Naruto murmured against his neck. It didn’t take long for Sasuke to really start feeling it; he spread his legs, allowing Naruto to go deeper, reaching the spot that made him cry out the loudest. His fingers dug into Naruto’s back while the bed creaked in harmony with Naruto’s movements.

“Are you feeling good?” Naruto panted.

Sasuke moaned in response and nodded as Naruto reached his sweet spot.

“I want you to feel like this always.” Naruto pressed their foreheads together, their breaths mingled between each other as Naruto sped up.

“Ah…” Sasuke wheezed. “Shut up already…”

“I love you _so_ much.” Naruto whispered. Just as he said that, Sasuke’s body shook as he came loudly, his low groan erotic enough to make Naruto finish at the same time. Naruto ground their bodies together until they were done, huffing as they came down from their intense high. A small whine slipped out of Sasuke’s lips as he tightened his grip around Naruto’s neck.

“Ready for round two?” Naruto slowly pulled back to look down at him. Sasuke widened his eyes in mock horror.

“How many rounds are you planning on?”

“As many as it takes.” Naruto murmured. He planted a small kiss on Sasuke’s chest before breaking into a grin. “It looks like you can go at least one more time.”

“Oh shut up!” Sasuke broke into a breathtaking smile. Especially with his cheeks flushed, it was one of Naruto’s favorite expressions.

Naruto repositioned himself before pulling Sasuke into another kiss.

“You know what I think is cute?”

“Don’t care.” Sasuke mumbled back as Naruto sucked on the crook of his neck.

“You came when I told you that I loved you.” Naruto smiled against Sasuke’s smooth skin, his own happiness threatening to spill out.

Sasuke didn’t reply right away. He wrapped his arms around Naruto’s neck again and let out a long sigh.

“You just took me by surprise.”

_He’s not denying it?_

“That’s so cute!”

“It’s not fucking cute.”

“But it is!” Naruto planted a messy kiss on Sasuke’s cheek. He tilted his head away in annoyance.

“If you don’t cut it out and shut up you’re not getting anything else tonight.”

“ _Sasuke_ …”

Sasuke cracked an eye open with a sly smile on his face.

“You’re lucky I’m too horny to be mad at you.”

Naruto scoffed. “That’s the only reason?”

He cut Sasuke’s laugh short with another deep kiss as he rolled onto his back, pulling Sasuke with him so he could straddle his waist.

 

 

 

 

“Who would’ve known you were actually the freak.” Naruto huffed as he stared up at the ceiling in exhaustion. He never thought Sasuke would wear him out so much in one night; it looked like he needed to work on his cardio. “Did you start doing yoga?”

“I’m just really flexible.” Sasuke grumbled from beside him. He lay on his back as well, with one arm behind his head and the other holding his phone above him as he scrolled through it. Naruto could only imagine him dropping it on his gorgeous face.

“Yeah right.” Naruto sighed before closing his eyes. When he opened them again, they wandered around the room until something in particular caught his eye. “Hey Sasuke, what are you doing with that book?”

Sasuke propped himself up on his elbows and craned his neck to see where Naruto was pointing.

“What do you mean? I read it you idiot.”

“You read it?” Naruto narrowed his eyes. “Did you like it?”

“Well…I re-read it. It’s one of the few books I actually like. The author comes out with some pretty interesting stories.” Sasuke dropped back down onto the bed.

Naruto couldn’t keep his eyes off of Sasuke. As much as Sasuke’s comment made him happy, his nose wrinkled up.

“Really? Of all books? I mean, I guess some are good but there are parts that fall a little flat, don’t you think?”

Sasuke stopped scrolling through his phone and set it on his chest to direct his glare at Naruto.

“How dare you.” He said slowly. “Did I ask for your opinion?”

“I’m just saying—”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“I have the right to criticize it!”

“No you fucking don’t!” Sasuke hissed back. “You go on and on about being a Hokage and you don’t publish anything you write! How the hell are you going to get out there if you don’t write‒”

“I wrote that book.” Naruto cut him off and pointed at the book with a blank stare.

Sasuke’s words died on his tongue as he stared at him in shock.

“What did you say?”

“That book, Tale of the Average Hero, I wrote it.” Naruto enunciated slowly. “A while ago, but yeah.”

Sasuke sat up so quickly that it made Naruto flinch. He stared down at Naruto in what looked like a mixture of disbelief and anger.

“You’re a liar.” Sasuke’s eyes went from the book to Naruto and back; Naruto found it pretty comical. “Your name isn’t on it!”

Naruto rolled his eyes. “Menma Namikaze is my pen name Sasuke; I’m not going to use my real name yet.”

Naruto watched Sasuke’s eyes travel up to the ceiling as he mouthed the name to himself. After a few seconds of inner turmoil, he dropped his eyes to the comforter.

“I’m such a fucking idiot.” He smacked his forehead with a groan. “I can’t believe I never thought about it…you just used your dad’s last name…”

“I’m not surprised you didn’t know.” Naruto shrugged. “Not many people know about it anyway. They know my dad had a son, but no one knows who I am.”

“I can’t believe you can write…” Sasuke looked so shell-shocked; Naruto placed a hand on Sasuke’s thigh and gave him a reassuring pat.

“I want to be a Hokage remember?”

“Have you won any awards yet?”

Naruto focused on the soft texture of Sasuke’s skin under his palm. He had written his way into the book world, but if he wasn’t satisfied with what he had already done, did that mean he was any closer to his goal? Awards were awards, and the more he got the more eligible he was to earn the Hokage title; however, he still had a way to go and he needed to pull himself together.

“I got two or three.” Naruto ran a hand through his hair and smiled at Sasuke. “That’s when I realized that I’m actually pretty nervous at those kinds of events.”

“You of all people.” Sasuke shook his head. He leaned back against Naruto and wrapped himself in the sheets. “You better get used to it.”

“I know.” Naruto let out a light laugh. He let his eyes fall closed again as Sasuke’s fingers skimmed across his bare chest.

“I’m a fan of your work.” Sasuke told him, his voice a quiet whisper.

“Thank you.” Naruto hummed, bringing his hand up to bury it in Sasuke’s soft hair. He massaged Sasuke’s head in small circles, earning a satisfied purr from him. They remained like that for the rest of the night, drifting in and out of sleep together as they waited for the sun to come up and indicate a new day.

It wasn’t going to be like any other day; every day Naruto spent with Sasuke proved to be something special, and even though it was just going to be another Sunday, Naruto welcomed it with open arms as long as Sasuke was by his side.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHH it has been so long since I’ve edited, I’m so sorry readers! Hopefully it’ll be more regular now, especially since its summer now and college isn’t in the way of this. As always, we appreciate feedback!   
> ^^^  
> THANKS FOR BEING PATIENT Y'ALL! I'll be revising chapters as soon as I get them so please hang in there while I shovel out all of this love and drama! If you haven't already, check out my other stories as well to waste some time (They're JeanMarco ones!) but yeah please throw me comments, just talk to me I'm so lonely...


	7. Red String of Fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few years later, and life is finally going smoothly for Naruto. Everything is finally working in his favor…but a certain someone can’t seem to revel in his fame. Vulnerabilities are revealed, and futures are discussed.

( _Six years later_ ):

 

It took a while to get used to the flashing lights.

Now it felt like second nature, smile at the cameras, hold up the books, say something charming; events like these had been a common outing for Naruto, but today was something special. The crowds were a little intimidating as he stood on the stage among the other authors, but as his eyes wandered across the room, he managed to make eye contact with the person who meant the most. It felt like his entire life was adding up to this moment, and now that it had arrived, Naruto was shell-shocked. He didn’t know how to respond, or how to function as a human being anymore, which was concerning considering he was on stage facing hundreds of people.

“Naruto, how does it feel to be this decade’s Hokage? We all know you’ve worked hard to make it this far and your previous awards are proof of your accomplishments!” The interviewer looked up at him with an excited expression. It took Naruto a moment to realize that everyone in the audience, including the authors behind him, were applauding.

_That’s right_.

His name was just announced wasn’t it? It felt like time was moving in slow motion; the moment he saw Sasuke’s face, everything seemed to just freeze in place. Had he failed to hear his new title as one of Konoha’s Hokage, his dream for as long as he could remember, because he was still stuck in the honeymoon phase? Or because his world was being flipped upside down with the granting of his wish?

“I’m honestly still in shock.” Naruto managed to finally say into the microphone. “A-are you sure you called my name?”

The audience rumbled in gentle laughter at that. Naruto didn’t mean to be funny, but their laughter was able to loosen some of his nerves.

“Rumor has it that the inspiration for your current bestseller is your partner! Is this true and who are they?”

Naruto couldn’t help but laugh, and he found himself glancing in Sasuke’s direction again. He stood next to Kakashi and Sai with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched Naruto with an amused expression.

“Unfortunately, I can’t spill the beans about that, but I can tell you that they’re certainly a large influence on my work.” His response earns a round of squeals and ‘ooohs’ from the crowd that fuels Naruto’s smile.

Naruto remained on the stage for a little while longer, answering the questions tossed his way and shaking hands with the other authors before being handed the one thing that had plagued his dreams for years. He held his framed certificate like it was his baby, and his name written next to “the seventh Hokage” made him want to cry. He had finally done it. The sleepless nights and daily stress had all added up to this moment, and it felt so surreal Naruto could have sworn he was still dreaming.

 

 

Naruto snuck away from the crowds to make his way to the back tables in the banquet hall. He found Kakashi first, who pulled him into a tight hug.

“Congratulations Naruto.”

“It’s only thanks to you that I’m here today.” Naruto pulled back to give Kakashi a cheeky grin. “So? Did I look like my dad up there?”

Kakashi’s eyes seemed to water for a brief second before he closed his eyes. Although he was wearing his trademark allergy mask, Naruto knew he was smiling. Kakashi was one of the few people Naruto knew who was an apprentice of his father. He could only wonder what had gone through Kakashi’s head as he watched Naruto grow as an author, stumbling, yet still following in his father’s footsteps.

“Like a mirror image.” Kakashi sighed. “I’m sure he’s proud of you.”

Naruto nodded. “I can only hope so.”

“Enough of the sad nostalgia. I have to throw in my compliments before I go.” Sai walked up to them with his usual air of indifference. However, when he placed his hand on Naruto’s shoulder, the smile Sai gave him didn’t feel fake like all of the others. Although it was small, it was the first authentic smile Naruto had ever gotten from the man.

“Sai?”

“I’m really proud of you Naruto. As my previous editor I knew you were talented, but you certainly took it to a new level.” Sai took a step back to look at the frame in Naruto’s hands. “Like Kakashi said, I’m sure your father is proud. Now you can hang that up in your house and see it every time you wake up.”

“Nah I’m gonna put it in the Publishing building.” Naruto handed the frame to Kakashi carefully as he spoke; it felt like a piece of himself had peeled away once it left his hands. “Maybe it’ll bring us some fame, yeah?”

Kakashi chuckled as he examined the award.

“I kind of miss you as an editor, my new one doesn’t let me get away with as many things as you did.” Sai shook his head and sighed.

“That’s because your plotlines are full of shit.” Sasuke interjected from behind them. Naruto whipped around to see Sasuke, and that was when his vision started to get blurry.

“Sasuke!” Naruto pulled him into a tight hug and buried his face into his shoulder.

“What are you crying about?” Sasuke didn’t hug him back, he stood as stiff as a board as Naruto hung off of him sniffling. He did pat Naruto’s back after a few moments, and that was enough to make Naruto lean back to look at him. “I was going to call you a loser, but I can’t really do that today, can I?”

Naruto wiped his eyes and let out a weak laugh. “I guess not.”

“Naruto.”

He looked up to meet Sasuke’s serious expression.

“Congratulations.” Sasuke smiled and it made Naruto’s heart ache. “I’m really proud of you.”

“I’m going to go before they start kissing.” Sai muttered and made his way towards the exit. Kakashi turned on his heels with the award in hand and let out a long sigh.

“Right behind you.”

Sasuke threw them an annoyed look, but Naruto was still staring at Sasuke. This was easily the happiest day of Naruto’s life, but Sasuke made most of his days feel like this. As happy as he was of finally accomplishing his dream, Sasuke being here to support him with everyone made the biggest impact. Sasuke hated crowds, yet he came to one of his most packed events to watch him speak. It was rare to get his praise about things, but when it came to writing, something Naruto was serious about, Sasuke gave his full support to help him.

“I love you.” Naruto said it quietly, loud enough for Sasuke to hear and quiet enough that the incoming group of authors couldn’t hear him. Sasuke didn’t want to be swallowed by the fame that surrounded Naruto as a well-known writer, preferring to be the hidden lover that everyone wondered about.

Sasuke nodded and turned to leave, but Naruto grabbed him by the arm to pull him closer to his side.

“Aren’t you coming with me to the after-party?”

Sasuke averted his gaze. “Of course not, I have no place there.”

“It’s not just writers going! It’s a bunch of people and their dates!” Naruto took advantage of the group of people and pushed Sasuke and himself out the room and down the hall. He was trying to avoid running into anyone, since the last thing he wanted was another picture taken or another autograph; he was still seeing spots in his vision.

“That means I’d be going as your date.” Sasuke blinked at him as if he found the idea ridiculous. “So no I’m not going.”

“If that’s what you’re worried about, they won’t think that if you don’t want them to. Is it really that bad if they knew we were dating?”

“Wouldn’t it be for you?” Sasuke shrugged out of Naruto’s grip. “I’m trying to avoid unnecessary attention.”

Naruto groaned. “No it wouldn’t be bad. I want to show you off to the world, but you’re too shy!”

“I am not shy.”

“Then come with me! I promise I won’t make any moves on you.” Naruto pulled Sasuke to his chest so they stood nose to nose. “Please babe?”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He seemed to weigh the options in front of him for a while as he glared into Naruto’s eyes. He finally let out a defeated sigh.

“Fine.”

“Alright! Let’s go!” With that, Naruto grabbed him by the wrist and nearly sprinted out of the building before they could get ambushed by the media. He had no idea what to expect from this party, considering it was being thrown by one of the actors that played in a few movies based off of a friend’s book series. The invitation extended thanks to association, of course, Naruto’s popularity also helped in that situation. Even though Sasuke was pouting the majority of the car ride there, Naruto knew he was going to have a fun time.

 

* * *

 

 

Things went crazy very quickly.

The party was packed, despite being in one of the largest mansions Naruto had ever been in, and the crowds allowed Naruto and Sasuke to move as they pleased. Naruto preferred not to be recognized, but he would say hello to the occasional person who stopped to speak with him.

He felt bad for bringing Sasuke into an even worse environment, but to his surprise, Sasuke started picking up drinks faster than Naruto could keep up with him. He hung onto Sasuke like a lost puppy, terrified that he’d lose his partner in the chaos, and it wasn’t until they found the top floor that they could actually be alone. That was two hours into the party and Sasuke was drunker than Naruto thought he was.

“I can’t believe you’re already plastered.” Naruto steadied him against the wall. “I know you’re a lightweight Sasuke, but come on!”

“Shut up, you drank a lot too!” when Naruto reached for the glass in Sasuke’s hand, he moved his arm away from Naruto with a dangerous expression. The drink sloshed up and along the sides before spilling down Sasuke’s arm like blood. Naruto didn’t know what the drink was, but it was somewhere between Sasuke’s fifth or seventh and he was _trashed_.

Naruto could admit that he was a little on the drunk side, but seeing Sasuke like this was way too enjoyable for him. He settled on the opposite side of the wall and watched Sasuke chug his drink with a rueful expression.

“You’re drinking a little heavily today Sasuke, is there something you’re hiding from me?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and set his glass on the floor at his feet.

“Every time I drink you think there’s something wrong with me. I drink to get drunk Naruto, I can’t leisure drink like you.”

Naruto sighed. “I’m just saying that you tend to drink when there’s something bothering you.”

Sasuke crossed the hallway to stand in front of him. He grabbed ahold of Naruto’s shirt to pull him into a sloppy kiss. Naruto humored him, holding Sasuke by the back of his head so he couldn’t escape what he started. Sasuke didn’t try; he pushed Naruto up against the wall with a moan, his grip tightening as Naruto ran his tongue along the inside of his mouth.

After a few moments, Naruto could feel Sasuke’s intentions creeping up on him, and he pulled back a little to see Sasuke’s expression.

“Really? You want to do it here?” he asked Sasuke incredulously. “It’s not like you to get clingy.”

Sasuke chewed on his lower lip, but he still held onto Naruto like his life depended on it. There was something in his eyes that Naruto didn’t register as Sasuke-like. It looked like a mixture of worry and fear behind his usual drunk behavior. Yeah, Sasuke got friendlier when he was drunk and sometimes he craved contact, but this felt more like…

“Am I not giving you enough attention?” Naruto asked as the thought popped into his head. As he watched Sasuke form a response, he could see the confirmation to his question by the way Sasuke dropped his gaze. Naruto pet the back of Sasuke’s head as he waited for an answer, focusing on the soft texture he couldn’t seem to get used to. It wasn’t like Sasuke to be needy, but the more Naruto thought about it, the more it seemed like he hadn’t been giving Sasuke his full attention since he started writing his last book. “Sasuke please, I need you to talk to me.”

Sasuke buried his face in Naruto’s chest and sniffled.

_Is he crying?!_

“I’m scared.” He mumbled after what felt like forever. Naruto wrapped him in his arms to rub his back in soothing circles. Sasuke never cried in front of him, and the sudden display of emotion was making him uneasy.

“What are you scared of?” Naruto whispered back.

“ _That you’re going to find someone else_.”

Naruto froze under Sasuke’s grip.

Find someone else? As in, dump him and fall in love with someone that wasn’t Sasuke?

That wasn’t possible.

“That’s never going to happen, why would you think that?”

Sasuke shook his head. “You’ve gotten really popular, and I’m sure there’s women drooling at your feet…”

“Sasuke stop. You know that’s not true.”

Naruto had to hide the smile on his face.

Sasuke was jealous. The idea shouldn’t make him as giddy as it did, but the thought made Naruto breathe a bit easier. He wasn’t the only one worrying about something like that; Naruto was always living in fear that Sasuke would get sick of him and find someone else. Sasuke certainly had the looks to get whoever he wanted, but that was just the way it was.

Naruto pulled Sasuke into another deep kiss, brushing away the wet streaks on Sasuke’s face with his nose as he planted kisses across Sasuke’s face. He didn’t protest, in fact he kissed Naruto back almost desperately. Was he seeking confirmation through Naruto’s attention? Naruto didn’t know, but he moved Sasuke around so that he was pressed against the wall instead.

“That will never happen because I have you.” Naruto tilted Sasuke’s face up and brushed away the remaining tears with his thumb. Sasuke didn’t seem convinced, but Naruto had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to truly convey it until they were both sober in the morning. Until then they would have to connect in the way they knew best.

Naruto pushed against Sasuke and unzipped his pants. Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto’s neck, allowing Naruto to pick him up and carry him into the bathroom. Locking the door behind him, Naruto braced Sasuke against the counter as they made out and wiggled Sasuke out of his pants as quickly as he could. Every movement they made was sloppy; Sasuke’s kisses left his cheeks wet and cool, and their heads occasionally bumped together when they moved.

“We’re a mess.” Naruto could only laugh at their situation. Sasuke chuckled as he watched Naruto unzip his pants with a heated expression. Naruto rummaged through the bathroom cabinets for anything usable; luckily he managed to find a small bottle of lube. Sasuke moved his hips impatiently as he waited for Naruto to return, the gesture made Naruto’s heart swell. He knew full well that they shouldn’t have sex in a stranger’s bathroom, but the whole idea felt like such a high school concept that it made him feel young again. Surely sex happened at parties, what made this one any different?

“Keep your voice down okay?” Naruto murmured as he slid in his fingers and silenced Sasuke’s moan with a kiss.

Sasuke nodded, burying his fingers in Naruto’s hair as Naruto moved closer. His grip tightened as Naruto took out his fingers and started to thrust, holding on tight so his back wouldn’t hit the wall and echo throughout the house. At first, he was good at keeping his voice down, but after a while Sasuke’s voice started to leak out, filling the bathroom as Naruto sped up. Too drunk to care, Naruto shifted to pull Sasuke closer and brought Sasuke’s thighs up to straddle his; Sasuke cried out when Naruto his sensitive spot.

“You’re adorable.” Naruto laughed breathily at the boy trembling beneath him. “You really can’t keep your voice down.”

“…’m trying…” Sasuke growled back. “I can’t help it!”

“I like it when you’re loud.” Naruto mused and brought their foreheads together. They shared breaths as they moved, and Naruto could feel the sweat soaking through his shirt. He was going to have to end this soon before someone found them…

“Naruto wait…” Sasuke gasped as Naruto shifted again.

Naruto ignored him, pushing into Sasuke with all he had until he felt Sasuke tighten around him. Pulling him close, Sasuke came with a loud moan before falling back against the wall a little heavily. Naruto finished soon after, pulling out with a satisfied huff and an aching back. He wasted no time in pulling up his pants and helping Sasuke slide back into his.

“No falling asleep.” Naruto helped Sasuke to the floor and grabbed his hand. “Let’s get outta here.”

Sasuke teetered a little as he zipped up his pants with his free hand and made his first few steps towards the door. Naruto tried to keep himself steady in case Sasuke’s body decided to fail him, and he led Sasuke down the stairs. The party was far from dying out; bodies moved amongst each other in the dark, leaving it difficult for anyone to get through without pushing their way out. So that’s exactly what Naruto did, he dragged Sasuke along with him through the weaving crowd, avoiding drinks and drunk people until they could make a brisk shot out the door.

 

The night air was cold and refreshing, its friendly bite at their exposed skin reminded them that winter was just around the corner. Naruto didn’t care for the snow, but he was looking forward to cuddling with Sasuke during the cold months. The loud and blaring music faded behind them as they moved farther away from the house; Naruto hadn’t been aware that his ears were ringing.

As they made their way down the cobblestone driveway and towards the street, Naruto wiggled his cell phone out of his pocket. He helped Sasuke situate himself on the curb before sitting next to him with the phone pressed against his ear.

“Hang in there, I’m calling a cab.”

“Hurry up, it’s cold.” Sasuke sighed. While Naruto spoke with the taxi services, Sasuke rested his head on Naruto’s shoulder and shut his eyes. After hanging up, Naruto wrapped his arms around his sleeping boyfriend and held him close until their ride arrived.

The entire ride was a blur; the city lights nearly put Naruto to sleep as they wove their way through the streets to get home. He didn’t remember paying the driver, getting out the car, or falling onto the bed next to Sasuke (fully-clothed at that) and falling asleep.

 

* * *

 

 

He remembered even less in the morning.

His splitting headache woke him up before their alarm could. Naruto didn’t know why they bothered to set the alarm at eleven a.m. on the weekends, but they had been living that way for years. Sasuke’s shirt was half-buttoned, as if he had tried to take it off in his sleep and failed. For a few minutes, Naruto just watched the way his chest rose and fell with every breath, and he wondered how cranky he would be when he woke up.

Naruto yawned and carefully slid out of bed. He discarded his clothes on the floor and walked to the bathroom alone; he wanted to wake up Sasuke and take a shower together, but he figured it would be safer to let him sleep a little longer.

In the shower, Naruto suddenly remembered what Sasuke had told him, prompting him to drop the soap and hit his head on the wall when he bent down to get it.

“Shit!” He dropped down to squat in the shower and hissed at his new potential bruise. He rubbed at it with an annoyed scowl and stared at the offending soap bar near the drain.

Sasuke was worried that fame would get to his head? That he would leave Sasuke for someone else?

That was a realistic fear, but for Naruto to get that cocky? It was unlikely. It was disappointing that after all of this time together, Sasuke still didn’t understand that. Yes, Naruto’s dream was to become Hokage, and it had finally come true. This was the peak of his happiness. Perhaps his attention had been a little skewed lately towards the media and writing, but he’d been instructed to focus on public image and improvement.

Naruto picked up the soap bar and turned it over in his hands.

Is that what the Uchiha were like?

Keeping up appearances for the company, staying in the city’s limelight…did that cause them to lose sight of what was really important? Did Sasuke’s family fall apart because of the money and attention they got for being well-known?

Naruto felt guilty. He knew he hadn’t been spending a lot of time with Sasuke, and he had completely overlooked that because Sasuke was never the one to say anything about being together. Sasuke was so independent that they could go for days without seeing one another because of their work schedules. Yet Sasuke was worried, and he was getting lonely…and that was something Naruto never wanted.

He stood up and set the soap carefully on the shelf so it wouldn’t fall again. As he massaged the shampoo through his hair, he tried to think of how he could make it up to Sasuke. First off, he’d have to tell Sasuke that he would never be replaced. He probably wouldn’t believe it, but Naruto knew what it felt like to live in constant fear of that. Afterwards, he would just have to be more attentive in his schedule. Achieving his dream wouldn’t mean anything if he lost everything that was important to him because of it.

The bathroom door opened to reveal the boy occupying his thoughts. It felt as if he were still dreaming; a sleepy Sasuke with bed hair and a groggy scowl rubbed his eyes as he approached the shower door and stared at him through the clear glass.

Naruto was too used to showering with Sasuke to be embarrassed by his staring. It wasn’t like he had anything to hide from him in the first place, but he did feel his face heat up as Sasuke started peeling off his clothes. He could only watch Sasuke strip in silence and move aside so Sasuke could join him.

“I heard you drop the soap.” He yawned, still half-asleep.

“Y-yeah…” Naruto found himself following the mechanical pattern they always did when they showered together. He got the soap (a little more carefully this time) and started to lather it over Sasuke’s body while Sasuke tried to wake up. When he started coming to, his fingers wandered to Naruto’s hair and scrubbed out the suds that had been missed.

“It’s so much easier to wash your hair now that it’s short.” Sasuke murmured, his hands lingering on Naruto’s neck.

“Yours is getting longer.” Naruto mused as he started to wash his hair. Since his hair was so fine, Naruto barely had to use any shampoo for Sasuke’s head to be covered in bubbles.

“Should I cut it?”

“No, I like it like this.” Naruto barely missed catching a dribble of soap before it got to Sasuke’s eye. That wouldn’t have been a fun repeat to happen.

As he was about to comment on the night before, Naruto’s stomach growled, a little angrily, which caused Sasuke to look down in confusion.

“Let’s go get breakfast.” Naruto gripped Sasuke by the shoulders and gave him a blinding smile. “I’m starving.”

“Sounds like it…but we can just cook here–”

“Do you really want to cook?”

“I don’t mind…”

“But I want French toast!”

“Like I said–”

Naruto planted a kiss on Sasuke’s forehead. “We’re going out.”

Sasuke let out a defeated sigh and moved to stand under the spray of water.

“You’re paying then Mr. Hokage.”

His crass remark made Naruto happier than it should have. He stepped out of the shower first to dry off; he couldn’t keep his eyes off Sasuke being naked in front of him after all. Sasuke scrubbed at the seemingly endless foam in his hair, and Naruto heard him groan when he got the soap in his eyes. It happened every time, no matter how careful they were, so Naruto wasn’t surprised.

He wordlessly handed a towel to Sasuke when he stepped out of the shower with his eyes squeezed shut. Naruto helped him dry off with a smile, relishing the way Sasuke would just give up trying to dry off himself and let Naruto do all of the work.

 

They left the apartment a good fifteen minutes later, led by their strong desire to be fed. Naruto nearly ran, dreaming about the cinnamon French toast he was about to shove down his throat. His headache was just a small reminder of the conversation they were going to have to have, but for the moment it was being drowned out by maple syrup and fluffy bread.

He and Sasuke took a booth by the wall, mostly out of view from the front doors and towards the back of the restaurant. Naruto still wasn’t sure if being a Hokage meant being the center of attention everywhere or hiding until they needed to be announced. He preferred to be in the background, otherwise the attention would always be on him and that could be a little nerve wracking. He was sure Sasuke appreciated his approach as well, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to do anything in public anymore.

Even so, Naruto was aware of the glances in his directions and the whispers that contained the word “Hokage” in them. He knew Sasuke heard them too, but he was pretending to be completely focused on the menu in front of him.

“Do you know what you’re going to order?”

Sasuke’s eyes scanned the breakfast options.

“Pancakes.”

“What kind?”

“Dunno yet.” Sasuke sighed, dropping his chin into his hand. In the bright lights of the restaurant, Naruto could see how tired he looked. Although he was flawlessly beautiful as always, Naruto could tell the undersides of his eyes were a little darker than they normally were. Was he sleeping okay?

Naruto nearly jumped when the waiter came to take their order. He was getting lost in his thoughts today, clearly, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him to que that he should order first. Sasuke ended up getting blueberry pancakes instead of the maple pecan Naruto was expecting him to order.

As the waiter walked away, two girls took their seats at the table across theirs and near the window. Naruto could feel them staring at him and Sasuke, but he ignored them for the moment.

“Oi Sasuke.”

Sasuke lazily sipped at his tea. “What?”

“Are you feeling okay from last night?” Naruto could feel his face pull into concern, Sasuke would keep it a secret from him until he asked.

“I feel fine, just a headache.” He brushed the question off with a shrug.

Naruto narrowed his eyes.

“You drank a lot last night.”

“I am aware.”

“I’m just making sure!” Naruto held up his hands in a surrendering gesture; Sasuke was starting to get a dangerous glint in his eyes.

The waiter breezed by again to drop off their plates with a friendly smile. While Naruto turned to thank the waiter, the two girls from across the room waved to him shyly. Naruto gave them a hearty wave back with his trademark smile.

“Stop waving at them.” Sasuke said.

“They waved first! I was just being friendly!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and picked up the maple syrup. Naruto had never seen someone _angrily_ pour maple syrup onto their pancakes, but Sasuke was doing it. He didn’t even like sweet things that much, which meant he was doing this to prove a point. He slammed the bottle back down onto the table and sliced through his pancakes as if they had personally offended him.

Naruto could only watch in silence, his own fork hovered over his French toast warily. Sasuke was mad. Naruto wasn’t completely sure what he had done, but he had pissed Sasuke off. Again.

Naruto sighed and sadly bit into his French toast. The warm heaven was comforting, but it didn’t taste nearly as good as he wanted it to. Although the atmosphere was bad, Naruto had to settle this now or they wouldn’t have a relaxing breakfast, or day, for that matter.

“You told me last night that you were scared that I would find someone else, remember?” Naruto swallowed his bite and gave Sasuke a small smile.

Sasuke didn’t respond. He ate his pancakes in silence, keeping his eyes on his plate rather than Naruto.

“As ridiculous as those words were coming from you, of all people, they made me pretty happy.”

“Happy?” Sasuke’s voice was cold and incredulous, but it didn’t make Naruto lose his confidence.

“I thought I was the only one who got jealous and thought that way, but it turns out I wasn’t. That made me…happy. But you should know that me finding someone else isn’t possible.”

Sasuke finally looked up with a puzzled expression. “Why wouldn’t that be possible?”

“Are you seriously Sasuke Uchiha?” Naruto put down his fork a little angrily, causing a few of the customers to look in their direction.

That seemed to fluster him. “W-what do you–?”

“The Sasuke I know is always sure of himself and knows that no one can beat him! The Sasuke I know has enough knowledge to know that I’m too dumb to be on my own and need you to be there so I can become a better person!” Naruto took a deep breath and found himself pushing back tears. “You know that I can’t love anyone other than you, so why would you say that?”

Sasuke’s mouth opened into a perfect “O” and he stared at Naruto in a mixture of fear and shock. He looked like a deer in headlights, cornered by Naruto’s sudden outburst so early in the morning and surrounded by townspeople he’d never want to see again.

Naruto covered his eyes with his hands and tried to push back his tears. He didn’t want to start crying in a restaurant; he never expected to get emotional in the first place.

“H-hey…” Sasuke’s voice made a sob slip out against his will. He felt Sasuke’s hand touch his arm. “Don’t you dare start crying in front of all of these people.” He hissed.

Naruto didn’t say anything. He sucked in his lower lip and let out a long sigh to curb his emotions. He didn’t want Sasuke to spend his days believing that he was replaceable. If that was the reason why Sasuke was losing sleep, Naruto knew he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself. He just wanted the two of them to be happy, but every time they got close to being perfect something would always happen to throw them off again. Another wracking sob tore through his body.

“Look, I’m sorry okay? I know you wouldn’t…I just–since you’re so popular now–”

Naruto could hear the panic in Sasuke’s voice. He was making a scene, and he knew it, so he moved to stand up and go to the bathroom when Sasuke grabbed him with a vice grip.

“Wait don’t go Naruto, listen to me!”

_I’m just going to the bathroom._

Naruto couldn’t open his mouth and say it, otherwise he’d really start sobbing, so he waved away Sasuke’s hand and tried to step away from the table.

“Naruto! I’m sorry! I know you wouldn’t do that, but…even I worry okay? My self-confidence isn’t as great as you think it is! And I worry about you because you’re an idiot, but I’m an idiot too, so that’s why…I need you…”

Naruto froze when he heard Sasuke’s voice break off with a quiet sob. He could feel the entire restaurant looking at them in curiosity, so he dragged Sasuke with him around the corner and into the single family bathroom.

His tears had been running for a while, and Naruto wiped at them furiously until he saw that Sasuke was crying too.

“You’re such a fucking jackass, pulling this shit in front of everyone!” Sasuke ducked his face into the crook of his elbow to hide his tears.

“You pulled this on me last night!”

“I was sad! And drunk!”

“Well I’m sad too!” Naruto pulled him into a tight hug and buried his face in the collar of Sasuke’s shirt. “I don’t ever want you to worry about that.”

Sasuke sniffled in response and held Naruto as he cried.

As he steadied his breathing, Naruto traced lines up and down Sasuke’s spine. He could feel every shaky breath Sasuke tried to pull in to stop crying, but Naruto wanted him to let it out rather than keep it in. They rarely spoke about their feelings, and they had managed to make a decent breakthrough before noon.

He had known that Sasuke’s self-esteem was actually pretty low even though he acted otherwise, but he thought Sasuke would at least hold some sort of confidence when it came to him. Naruto supposed even the most beautiful people held their doubts, but that meant he’d have to try his hardest to help Sasuke understand how great he truly was.

“I don’t want my pancakes anymore.” Sasuke murmured, breaking their long moment of silence.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I want my French toast.” Naruto let out a weak laugh and pulled back to look at Sasuke. His eyes were a little red from crying, but it wasn’t too noticeable.

“Like hell I’m sitting back down and acting as if we didn’t just make a giant scene!” Sasuke tried to pull back, but Naruto kept him close. “Hell no!”

“It was just our public display of love.” Naruto pecked him on the nose.

“No, I hate you.”

“I love you Sasuke.” Naruto broke into a smile that made Sasuke narrow his eyes. “Every day it scares me how much I love you.”

Sasuke’s cheeks began to turn their trademark pinkish hue as he steeled his expression into something neutral.

“Me too, idiot.”

Naruto could only laugh before letting him go. He left the bathroom first, making the brave walk to the front of the restaurant to ask the waiter if he could get a to-go box. When he returned, Sasuke was sulking in their booth, poking at his pancakes with his fork. They had absorbed nearly all of the syrup he had poured on them earlier and looked like soggy globs on his plate.

As soon as they packed up the to-go box, Naruto paid the bill and they left, nearly speed-walking out of the restaurant to get away from everyone’s stares.

 

 

“I think it’s been a pretty eventful day so far.” Naruto mused at Sasuke’s side.

“Hn.” Sasuke snorted. They walked along the pathway that led to Konoha’s city square; its pristine white concrete blocks made the walk home so much prettier than it had been four years ago. Konoha was changing, renovating its sidewalks and buildings to fit in with the modern era they were finding themselves in. The roads were lined with flower beds and planted trees, the streetlights were replaced with bigger and nicer ones, and the air was starting to smell a little cleaner.

As they walked through the town square, several people had gathered around a snow cone truck that had parked on the street. Naruto didn’t pay any attention to it, but Sasuke came to a sudden stop, catching Naruto’s attention.

“Sasuke? What’s wrong?”

“Isn’t that Kiba?” Sasuke gestured to the familiar guy linking arms with an unfamiliar man. Kiba said something to him and they both broke out into laughter as they waited in line for their snow cones.

“It’s a little cold for snow cones, don’t you think?” Sasuke huddled closer into his jacket and scowled. “And is that his boyfriend? They look happy together.”

“Yeah…I think so too.” Naruto hesitated on the sidewalk. He was torn between whether he should say something to Kiba or not; he felt like he should apologize for everything that had happened between them, but wouldn’t that just make things uncomfortable? He looked like he was having fun with his friend anyway, the last thing he wanted to do was ruin a moment. “Let’s go Sasuke.”

“You aren’t going to say anything to him?” Even Sasuke sounded surprised. He shrugged and followed Naruto without another word.

He hadn’t spoken to Kiba in a while, in fact, it was difficult for him to keep in touch with his friends since he’d started gathering more and more fans. He hadn’t realized how quickly work piled up when he started, and there wasn’t enough time in the day to see whoever he wanted. The days where he could come into the publishing company required meetings with Kakashi and the president, he barely had time to wave to his old friends yet alone speak to them individually. He carried the guilt of not knowing about Kiba’s feelings when it mattered, but he imagined that Kiba found someone better. He found someone who noticed his true feelings and reciprocated them from the beginning, and that was all he could ask for. Of course, it was all based upon his assumptions, but Kiba was a good-looking guy, and even if that man with him wasn’t his boyfriend, it wouldn’t take Kiba long to find someone special to him.

 

They cut through the park instead of taking the main street. Naruto was yearning for more scenery on their walk home, and Sasuke seemed to feel the same way. Despite the crisp weather, a crowd of young children were playing in the park with a few teen supervisors. Some kicked around a soccer ball while another group tried to fly a kite. Naruto felt nostalgic; he remembered the days when he would play in this park with a few of his friends and waste the day away. Now he was feeling particularly old and out of touch with the times; maybe he should write something to combat that.

Two kids crossed their path as they neared the edge of the park. The boy was being chased by a small girl, their laughter filling the quiet early afternoon air, and the boy proved to be too fast for her. She tripped and ended up getting a face-full of leaves and dirt right at Sasuke’s feet. Naruto watched the other kid run off without bothering to check on her, and when he turned back he was blessed with a sight he never thought he’d see.

Sasuke picked the little girl up and set her back on her feet. She was crying her eyes out, but once she saw Sasuke’s face she calmed down, sucking in sad, but quiet sobs as Sasuke helped her pick the leaves out of her blonde pigtails. He dusted her off, asked if she was okay, and sent her on her way with a smile he must reserve only for small children. The girl returned to the main group and went back to playing like nothing had happened.

“I never knew you were so great with kids.” Naruto smiled at him slyly.

Sasuke turned his head and led the way back down the sidewalk. “I’m not, and I hate kids. They take up too much of your time.”

“Aw you know that’s not true! Kids can be so cute!”

“Yeah right.” Sasuke scoffed.

Naruto threw an arm over Sasuke’s shoulder as a thought popped into his head.

“Hey Sasuke, let’s have a baby.”

Sasuke shrugged him off. “In your dreams loser.”

“Just think about it, we would be great dads!”

“I thought about it, and I don’t want it.” Sasuke said resolutely. “Hell will freeze over when we have a child.”

Naruto stuck out his lower lip in a pout as they made the rest of the way home. He would just have to convince Sasuke otherwise.

 

 

 

When Naruto unlocked the front door, he was graced with the surprise appearance of Itachi stretched out on their couch watching TV.

“Oh you were here?” Naruto feigned surprise; he was actually used to Itachi popping up without warning in their apartment. Once they walked in on him taking a bath as if it were his own.

“Why are you always here?” Sasuke groaned as he shrugged out of his jacket. He shot Itachi an annoyed expression when he passed by to hang it up.

“I’m just visiting my dear brother and my friend, what’s wrong with that?” Itachi mused as he crunched on a chip. “Plus, your couch is really comfortable.”

“I know, I bought it.” Sasuke sassed back.

“I also came for dinner, what are you cooking today?” Itachi directed the question at Naruto, probably because he knew Naruto would give him a more reasonable answer.

“I was wondering that myself…” Naruto sat at the counter and shuffled through their collection of take-out menus. “Tacos? Pizza?”

“Are we just avoiding cooking today?” Sasuke went into the fridge, but promptly closed it after throwing in their take-out bag. “I guess that’s for the best since it’s empty anyway. Aside from a piece of French toast.”

“The fridge…is empty?” Itachi’s eyes widened, accentuating his exceptionally dark eyes. “That is shocking.”

“I know, I know.” Naruto tried not to roll his eyes as he looked over their options. If Itachi kept coming over like this, he should start paying rent. Actually, Naruto had to take that back as it seemed like Itachi owned the apartment complex in the first place.

“Speaking of shocking, Sasuke our aunt asked about you.” Itachi directed his mischievous smile to his brother.

Sasuke crossed his arms. “The aunt who only pretends to care about me?”

“She really does care about you! She helped us a lot after mom died, why would you think she doesn’t care?”

“Because I was the problem child.” Sasuke walked over to Naruto and picked out a random menu. “Order from here.”

Naruto scowled at the questionable pizza mascot on the cover, but followed Sasuke’s suggestion anyway. He opened up the menu while listening to the brothers’ conversation.

“She cares about you dearly and since you shut off all contact with the family she has to go through me to hear about you.”

“Okay so what’s your point?”

“So snippy.” Itachi muttered under his breath. “She wants to know when you’re going to ‘have the next Uchiha heir’, or in other words, when are you going to start having children?”

Naruto couldn’t stop the laughter from bubbling out of his chest. Itachi and Sasuke stared at him as he chuckled over his pile of menus.

“Sorry, carry on.” He wheezed.

Sasuke shook his head.

“First of all, that’s not physically possible, and second of all that’s none of her damn business. Why isn’t she asking you that? You’re older than me and you don’t have any children…”

Itachi shrugged.

Sasuke’s eye twitched. “…do you?”

“Not that I know of.” Itachi smiled and dropped back onto the couch. “She doesn’t know that you’re dating Naruto, at least I don’t think she does. But with Naruto being the Hokage now, news will travel fast.”

“We know that.” Sasuke frowned.

“But she could also mean adoption, yeah they wouldn’t have Uchiha blood, but it would be your child…”

“No! Why is everyone getting on my case about having a baby!”

Naruto flipped to the next page of the menu. “Adopting a child isn’t out of consideration.”

Itachi jumped up in surprise as Sasuke groaned and stormed down the hall.

“Now you’re talking reasonably! Boy or girl?”

Naruto cocked his head as he thought. “I kind of want a girl.”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Sasuke roared from their bedroom.

“Well, you two have plenty of time. You still have a child here to deal with.” Itachi smirked at his own joke. He came over to help Naruto decide what toppings to put on the pizza and what size to get. Sasuke emerged from the bedroom with a sweater on instead of the shirt he was wearing before.

“Can’t we just adopt a cat or something?”

“Why because they’re low maintenance like you?” Itachi poked Sasuke between the eyes, prompting Sasuke to swipe at him. “I’m just kidding, you are very high maintenance, I don’t know how Naruto deals with you.”

“Shut up! And go home you can order your own dinner!”

“Naruto said I could stay.”

Sasuke’s glare whipped to Naruto, but he kept his eyes on the menu options. He never actually said that, but Itachi was starting to dig him into a hole…

“Well Naruto can eat dinner with you because I’m leaving–”

“Sasuke.” Naruto called.

“What?!”

“What do you want to name the cat?”

Sasuke’s full attention went to him. If Sasuke had a tail, Naruto could imagine it wagging; the boy tried to hide his emotions so much it was hilarious when they leaked out. He approached Naruto at the counter again and blinked at his boyfriend.

“We’re getting a cat?”

“You just said you wanted one.”

“I said I would prefer one over a human child…”

“So we’re getting a cat.” Naruto decided. “But it has to be a baby, I want to mother something. Itachi can you order this?” He handed Itachi the menu before turning to fully look Sasuke in the eyes.

Sasuke’s eyes were shining. With excitement, Naruto didn’t know, but Sasuke’s expression was enough to make him smile up at Sasuke with content.

“Are you happy?” he asked Sasuke as he pulled him close to wrap his arms around his waist.

Sasuke turned his head to let out a huff. “Not particularly.” Naruto could tell he was lying, and that only made him smile wider.

“I guess that’s how you won my brother over, huh.” Itachi sighed as he brought the phone up to his ear. “And Sasuke loves cats, don’t let him tell you otherwise.”

“Shut up Itachi!”

Sasuke let Naruto hold him in his orbit while Itachi ordered their dinner. He ran his fingers through Naruto’s hair while Naruto buried his face in Sasuke’s sweater. It was soft and smelled like him, which was all he could ask for. He truly loved this boy and everything that encompassed him; Naruto knew Sasuke would be a smart and caring father if they ever did finally decide to have children. It wasn’t an idea Naruto planned on dropping. For now, they would live comfortably. Naruto would make sure that his career never overshadowed his reason for existence nor the love of his life, and he would never let the fame of being a Hokage get to his head.

Naruto thought back to Sai’s manga series about them and their life together; he wasn’t aware of how Sai ended it since Sasuke was the one doing the editing for him now. He wondered what Sai predicted their ending to be, or even their lives leading up to the ending. Sai was known for being suspiciously accurate in those types of things, but Sasuke’s and Naruto’s relationship was never what one could call “predictable”. That was how it was supposed to be, and it always kept Naruto guessing. Looking up and seeing that dark haired boy smiling down at him made his heart race nearly as quickly as the first day he fell in love with him. Naruto believed in fate, he really did, and he wondered if his good karma had led to this moment.

Naruto’s hand moved down to hold Sasuke’s ass.

“Oi.” Sasuke warned. When Naruto didn’t listen he plucked out one of Naruto’s hairs. “Cut it out.”

“Sorry.” He didn’t move his hand and Sasuke didn’t make him.

Well, it didn’t matter what Sai had written their ending to be because nothing was set in stone. Through a certain set of circumstances, two completely different personalities had met, and in the process a fox and a raven had fallen in love. It certainly wasn’t the typical romance, but Naruto believed it would definitely be the kind of story people would talk about for a long time.

If his father were here, would he be proud of him? What about his mother? It was hard to say, but at least Naruto could say that he was proud of himself. He’d done things he never would’ve imagined and he never gave up, even when he had wanted to.

There wasn’t much he could do from now on other than follow his own path with Sasuke. He was going to take his overflowing emotions and ideas and put them on paper because that was what he did best. He would sway the world with different stories and characters that he felt the need to share. There was nothing Naruto wanted more than to share Sasuke’s and his story to the ones willing to read it. To show readers how beautiful this man truly was behind the scowls and indifferent attitude he gave off. Beyond the powerful aura that came with the Uchiha name and killer looks he never asked for. Naruto would share the darkness he had been raised in by being in his father’s shadow, and how he doubted his own success until he finally made a move on his own. The possibilities were plentiful, the plot was set, and the ending was indefinite.

Naruto breathed out a long, but happy sigh.

“Looks like I should get to writing.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHHHHHHH this fanfiction is finished! I can’t believe it! And checking the date, this work was started about a year ago. It’s so weird to watch the time flow so quickly like this, so much has happened in our lives but these stories have kept us occupied for more than a year and it’s wonderful to see one finished. I have to say, I really enjoyed this last chapter, and I loved seeing all these new sides of Sasuke. I’m really proud of my dear friend Whatsinthebasement for completing a work, and for writing such a wonderful story. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did, and as always, we love to hear your feedback in the comments!  
> ^^^^^^  
> *drops mic*  
> hahaha just kidding! I made Sasuke so cute in this chapter, I didn't really realize that until going over the chapter one last time...oh well, what did you guys think of the ending? Was it okay? Was it too cheesy? Oh god I'm so nervous.  
> Thank you sososososoooooo much to everyone who reads/read this and left kudos/comments and everything! I love and appreciate you all! Also thank you so much to my editor for putting up with my crazy ideas and horrible grammar mistakes!! Please don't hesitate to tell us what you thought about this short fic! It was our first so we are complete newbies and I hope I made Naruto and Sasuke as adorable as I could. I can't believe it's finally over, but once again thank you guys for a great year! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Yo guys, churning out another fanfic here! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter; this one will be a relatively short story but its interesting plot wise, so please stick around! Up next: Naruto gets to know Sasuke better!


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